The Bellamy salute is a palm-out salute created by James B. Upham as the gesture that was to accompany the Pledge of Allegiance of the United States of America, whose text had been written by Francis Bellamy. It was also known as the " flag salute " during the period when it was used with the Pledge of Allegiance. Bellamy promoted the salute and it came to be associated with his name.
Both the Pledge and its salute originated in Later, during the s and s, Italian fascists and Nazi Germans adopted a salute which was very similar, which they attributed to the so-called Roman salute , a gesture that is wrongly thought to have been used in ancient Rome. This resulted in controversy over the use of the Bellamy salute in the United States.
It was officially replaced by the hand-over-heart salute when Congress amended the Flag Code on December 22, The inventor of the Bellamy salute was James B. Upham, junior partner and editor of The Youth's Companion. The Bellamy salute was first demonstrated on October 21, , according to Bellamy's published instructions for the "National School Celebration of Columbus Day " as the th Anniversary of the Discovery of America.
Note, the Presidential Proclamation called for this special, national holiday to take place on Friday, October 21 rather than October Waiting nine additional days accounted for all but two of the days which had been skipped in moving the United States from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar.
With an already established tradition celebrating Columbus's having landed on October 12, New York City opted to schedule three special parades and several VIP celebrations with their events taking place on October 11, 12 and 13, At a signal from the Principal the pupils, in ordered ranks, hands to the side, face the Flag. Another signal is given; every pupil gives the flag the military salute — right hand lifted, palm downward, to align with the forehead and close to it.
