The Pledge_ A History of the Pledge of Allegiance - Jeffrey Owen Jones [44]
The magazine had asserted that Bellamy’s boss, James Upham, had actually drafted the Pledge in 1892, and then sent it down to the editorial staff for polishing. Perhaps it was the other way around. But the Companion’s statement dismissed Bellamy as just one of several junior editors who had a hand in wordsmithing the salute. While the statement acknowledged that the “name of Francis Bellamy of Massachusetts is sometimes associated with the Pledge,” so was “Frank E. Bellamy, a Kansas schoolboy.” Regardless, the magazine stated it was Mr. James B. Upham who had crafted the piece, and it was he who should be credited.
Bellamy commenced a vigorous defense of his authorship. He wrote a letter on June 19, 1923, to Companion owner C. E. Kelsey in which he asserted politely but firmly that he, Francis Bellamy, had written “every one of the 23 words . . . without the change of a single word by Mr. Upham or anyone else.” Kelsey’s eventual reply provided no satisfaction. Bellamy proceeded to pursue other sources that would corroborate his position.
It was quite by accident that Bellamy encountered Mr. and Mrs. John Winfield Scott on that busy New York street in 1923. Scott had been in charge of the advertising office of the Companion during the time the Pledge was written. Both he and his wife, Florence, had participated in planning the national celebration during which the Pledge was first recited. They had also attended a first anniversary event in New York City. Both Upham and Bellamy had been present. The Scotts and Bellamy hadn’t seen each other since. But when Bellamy disclosed the Companion’s authorship challenge, the Scotts shared his outrage.
A few days later, on Bellamy’s urging, Florence Scott wrote a detailed account of “our last meeting, about thirty years ago,” that she had remembered for Bellamy at their Fifth Avenue encounter. It was at the ceremony raising the flag at the Navesink Highlands in New Jersey. And though her memory of the date was off by several months—“it was not before July 1893,” she wrote—the rest of her account about the April event was extremely detailed, including a listing of the various attending dignitaries. She then recalled that Mr. Upham himself had introduced Bellamy as the writer of the Pledge. “It so happened that I was with Mr. Upham most of the day,” she wrote, and “Mr. Upham introduced you to several other persons, as he did to me, as the writer of the Pledge of Allegiance. . . .” Finally, she described “the very climax of the proceedings . . . when you, as the author of the Pledge, were called upon to lead us in repeating it.”
If the Pledge were written and published in a national journal today, there would be little doubt about who wrote it. The author’s name would most certainly be shown. Take Time or Newsweek, the New Yorker or the Atlantic Monthly, even publications directed to the adolescent market, like National Geographic Kids. These magazines all identify the staff writers and others who contribute reports or collaborate on stories. None omits bylines or attribution, except for certain recurring features.
Not so with the Youth’s Companion. It was the policy of the magazine, at least during Daniel Ford’s ownership and Francis Bellamy’s tenure, that the name of an employee who is an editorial contributor not be printed. This was an acknowledged rule, even though there is no evidence that it was written down anywhere. The message to salaried employees was: you work for and should promote the magazine; you should not seek to gain individual recognition or personal credit for your efforts.
Thus, when the Pledge