Mr. FERGUSON. Mr. President, the verbal manifestation of an American's loyalty and patriotism is the pledge of allegiance to our flag. Recognizing that the pledge did not specifically acknowledge that we are a people who do believe in and want our Government to operate under divine guidance, I introduced in the Senate a resolution to add the words which forever, I hope, will be on the lips of Americans. Representatives OAKMAN and RABAUT, of Michigan, and others, introduced similar measures in the House. These words, "under God", are at this moment officially a part of the pledge of allegiance.

It gives me a genuine and real thrill to know that this very day these words of spiritual recognition are being uttered throughout the length and breadth of this great and free Nation of ours.

In its new form, the pledge of allegiance to the flag now reads:

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

For several weeks, the American Legion has been conducting a broad and successful drive throughout the entire United States to encourage all of our people to fly the Stars and Stripes on all patriotic occasions, particularly Flag Day, June 14, and on Independence Day, July 4.

As a part of this worthy effort, I had the honor and distinction of leading a group of my distinguished colleagues from the Senate and the House of Representatives in first stating the pledge of allegiance with the words "under God" in ceremonies especially arranged by the national headquarters of the American Legion, through Mr. Edward McGinnis, the former Sergeant at Arms of the Senate.

This colorful ceremony on the morning of June 14 was carried on the Columbia Broadcasting System television network throughout the entire Nation. I include, for the RECORD, the script of this program.

There being no objection, the script was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:

Mr. CRONKITE. Way back when -- remember when American flags fluttered from every home on special holidays? It was a wonderful sight -- and we hope the tradition will be begun again. And today -- Flag Day, 1954 -- the American Legion -- along with millions of other Americans -- are hoping to revive that old custom with "new glory for Old Glory". Right now in Washington, D.C. -- 175 years from the official adoption of the Stars and Stripes by the Continental Congress -- top leaders in the House and Senate are standing by to witness a stirring event: The official raising of the national colors over the Capital on Flag Day. The flag -- which we'll see in a moment -- is the one recently presented to Vice President NIXON by the American Legion. And standing by to describe the colorful ceremony is CBS correspondent, Ron Cochran.

Mr. COCHRAN. Here are the Members of Congress assembled for this special flag-raising ceremony this morning: Senator STYLES BRIDGES, of New Hampshire, President pro tempore of the Senate; Senator WILLIAM KNOWLAND, of California, the Senate majority leader; Senator HOMER FERGUSON, of Michigan; Senator LYNDON JOHNSON, of Texas, Democratic leader of the Senate; Senator EARLE CLEMENTS, of Kentucky, Senate minority whip; Representative LESLIE ARENDS, of Illinois, House majority whip; and Representative GEORGE DONDERO, of Michigan. The flag is escorted by an honor guard from the national headquarters of the American Legion. It will be raised to the standard atop the Capital by the Sergeant at Arms, Forrest Harness, and the former Senate Sergeant at Arms Ed McGinnis. Now the new pledge of allegiance to the flag authorized by a new law signed only a few minutes ago by the President. The pledge is spoken by Senator HOMER FERGUSON and Congressman LOUIS RABAUT.

Mr. CRONKITE. "New glory for Old Glory" -- a wonderful idea and maybe if we all remember to display our flags today and every special day -- we will remember more clearly the traditions of freedom on which our country is founded.

Mr. FERGUSON. Mr. President, I think that the American Legion and the Columbia Broadcasting System are to be commended for this inspirational and patriotic ceremony.

In words more eloquent than any of mine, Dr. Harris, the Senate's very fine Chaplain, has described the scene which took place on the Capital steps on Flag Day just a few minutes after the President's Office had informed me that the President had signed the resolution which added the significant new words to the pledge of allegiance. In his always inspiring column, Spires of the Spirit of last Sunday, Dr. Harris devotes his text to the words "under God", and I ask unanimous consent that this column be placed in the RECORD in its entirety.

There being no objection, the column was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:

(By Frederick Brown Harris, minister, Foundry Methodist Church; Chaplain, U.S. Senate)

No matter how high our starry emblem is lifted, it is "under God". On Flag Day President Eisenhower attached his name to the bill officially inserting those momentous words into the pledge of national allegiance. The Chief Executive must have been aware of a tall form, with sad, seamed face, standing by with approving gaze. Abraham Lincoln was there! For had he not appropriated the phrase in an address that was to be immortal! The words thus solemnly included in his deathless message at Gettysburg did not represent just a hollow, pious gesture tinged with political expedient. "Under God" was the fundamental belief of his life. The credo which these two words proclaim ran like a golden cord through all his conceptions of duty and destiny. He might have been vague, indifferent or incredulous as to some of the theological dogmas of his day which seemed to libel the God in whom he really believed. But no man of his troubled times was more positive that: "There is a divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will."

But not only Honest Abe was there when these words went into the Salute to the Flag. Knowing their faith in a guiding and overruling providence, who can doubt that every President from George Washington onward joined the latest occupant of that exalted office in applauding the action and the significance of the congressional resolution which by the presidential pen was turned into law.

To put the words "under God" on millions of lips is like running up the believer's flag as the witness of a great nation's faith. It is also displayed to the gaze of those who deny the sacred sanctities which it symbolizes.

On that June day, within a few minutes after the signature of the President had written "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, the bill that legalized it leaped to life in a scene silhouetted against the white dome of the Capital. There stood Senator HOMER FERGUSON, who had sponsored the resolution in the Senate, and with him a group of legislative colleagues from both houses of Congress. As the radio carried their voices to listening thousands, together these lawmakers repeated the pledge which is now the Nation's. Then, appropriately, as the flag was raised a bugle rang out with the familiar strains of "Onward, Christian Soldiers!"

Thus at the White House and at the Capital was "under God" written across the Stars and Stripes, in its homage to deity taking its place with the "In God We Trust" on our coinage and "the power that hath made and preserved us a Nation" in our national anthem. Concerning this meaningful event the White House made this thrilling pronouncement, to which is the sound of a great "Amen" in a mighty host of God-fearing hearts:

"From this day forward the millions of our schoolchildren will daily proclaim in every city and town, every village and rural schoolhouse the dedication of our Nation and our people to the Almighty. ... Over the globe millions have been deadened in mind and soul by a materialistic philosophy of life. ... In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America's heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever shall be our country's most powerful resource in peace or in war."

Of course, this reverential acknowledgment is nothing new. It is but a rededication to the faith in which the Republic was cradled. To be "under God" is to be under an intelligible explanation of the mysterious universe in which we find ourselves. To believe in nothing higher than the flag of one's nation is to thwart the soul's highest instincts, as well as to insult the intellect. To regard will, memory, imagination, thought, love, and the faculties by which men conquer space and time and matter as the reaction of chemical elements, to perceive no mind speaking through the infinite complexities of the cosmos, to be blind to the one final, irreducible and inescapable denominator of the universe.

The results of blasphemous denials of God on a tremendous scale already are being shudderingly shown by the baneful social pattern of atheistic materialism. Suspicion begins to grow that it is not the believer who is irrational, but the cynical denier. Certainly, one who accepts the beliefs of unbelief, with its assumption of a universe that is dead and godless, is called before the bar of reason to explain such undeniable facts as self-sacrifice, nobility, and heroism, which have made the earthen vessels of humanity blaze with a shining glory. The unbeliever has to assert that the grandeur and splendor of life at its best are but the product of blind chance. To deny the implications of "under God" and to point to dust to explain destiny is about as sensible as declaring that you could take a bag containing the letters of the alphabet and, throwing a few handfuls of them into the air, expect them to fall to the ground in the form of a Shakespeare's sonnet or of a Tennyson's In Memoriam. The thing is absurd.

There is no liberty anywhere except under God. All history shouts that. What avail all the fair slogans of liberty, equality, and fraternity as the streets of Paris ran red with blood and the guillotine rolled its ghastly heads, if a lewd woman is lifted up as the goddess of reason in Notre Dame's temple to the Most High.

The promising streams of freedom disappeared in the sands of futility when there is nothing higher than the state. With a deified state in a godless realm iron curtains but hide broken strands of rainbows which once arched the sky of those who imagined themselves pioneers of a new freedom. Without God, unkept promises became the fetters of a worse thralldom at the hands of alleged emancipators.

In this dread day the faces of scientists and national leaders who know the stark facts are blanched by fear. For man has achieved the awesome capacity to produce a star as hot as the sun; he has snatched the secret of starting a fire that can incinerate the planet. We are suddenly aghast at the dire possibilities of stupendous power in the hands of men who have no God in their hearts.

William Penn expressed a pertinent principle when he declared: "Man will either choose to be governed by God or condemn himself to be ruled by tyrants." The Quaker was saying, long before Lincoln, that the only freedom there is is under God.

The saving formula for today's crisis is: "This Nation under God must have a new birth of freedom." Any so-called freedom, if it is not under God, is under sentence of death.

Mr. FERGUSON. I likewise ask unanimous consent that the magnificent words of President Eisenhower, on this historic occasion -- the signing of the resolution -- also be placed in the RECORD together with an article on How the Pledge Was Written, by Margarette S. Miller, which appeared in the Sunday supplement, Parade, for June 13, 1954.

There being no objection, the statement and article were ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:

From this day forward, the millions of our school children will daily proclaim in every city and town, every village and rural schoolhouse, the dedication of our Nation and our people to the Almighty. To anyone who truly loves America, nothing could be more inspiring than to contemplate this rededication of our youth, on each school morning, to our country's true meaning.

Especially is this meaningful as we regard today's world. Over the globe, mankind has been cruelly torn by violence and brutality and, by the millions, deadened in mind and soul by a materialistic philosophy of life. Man everywhere is appalled by the prospect of atomic war. In this somber setting, this law and its effects today have profound meaning. In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America's heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country's most powerful resource, in peace or in war.

PORTSMOUTH, Va. -- One sticky August night in 1892, the lamps burned late in the Boston office of a magazine named The Youth's Companion.

A 36-year former minister stared out at the city and tried to fit together a few words that would sum up an American's love for his flag.

The man was Francis Bellamy, of Rome, N.Y., and the sheet of foolscap in front of him was soon to contain the words we know as the pledge of allegiance.

Those words have come down to us, to be repeated by every schoolboy and treasured by every patriot, but the author's name had been mislaid.

Bellamy probably is the most neglected patriot in American history.

Most Americans never have heard of him, although I have campaigned for 15 years to win him rightful recognition. Today's Congress, 45 States, and 5 Territories recognize him as the author.

The Upham family and some others still maintain that James Bailey Upham, Bellamy's boss, wrote the pledge. But from 18 years of research, including a study of Bellamy's private papers and journals, here is my account of how our pledge was written.

When Francis Bellamy joined The Youth's Companion, the magazine was leading a great rededication to Americanism.

Part of that program was to raise the flag over all the Nation's schools on Columbus Day, 1892.

Upham had wanted a new flag salute for the occasion. But Bellamy had convinced him that a salute would be far too stiff and formal.

What was needed now, he felt, was a warm, human, simple pledge.

Sitting there, twirling his pen, he quickly hit on the first words: "I pledge allegiance to my flag". And since the flag would symbolize the Nation, he added, "and to the Republic for which it stands".

But then the writing became more difficult. Bellamy skimmed through American history. He reflected on the Civil War. The scars were just healing.

And he tacked on, "one Nation indivisible", for surely the war had proved that. But he still needed some phrase which would sum up America and the American dream. He thought of the slogan of the French Revolution, "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity".

And he knew that "liberty and justice for all" was the simple, yet moving phrase he was groping for. The pledge was done. (Later, it was revised slightly.)

Bellamy left the magazine 4 years later, to enter the advertising field. His writings reveal that until his death in 1931, he regarded the few words of the pledge as the greatest he had ever written. His personal story of the pledge also contains this prediction:

"And Mr. Upham said, 'My boy, I can't help thinking that this thing you have written will last long after you and I are both dead.'"

Tomorrow, on Flag Day, millions of Americans will reaffirm that the pledge does live on. The name of Francis Bellamy, a man fired with pride in his flag and in his country, should live with it.

MR. FERGUSON. I hope, and respectfully suggest, that every newspaper in the country, at least once before the Fourth of July, print on its front page the new Pledge of Allegiance with the words "under God" in bold-face type, so that all the people may know the new pledge of allegiance.

"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give my liberty, or give me death!"
-- Patrick Henry (1736-1799)
Virginia Convention Of Delegates, 1775.