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The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is an
organization An organization or organisation (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), see spelling differences) is an legal entity, entity—such as ...
of
U.S. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...
war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...
veteran A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in an job, occupation or Craft, field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in the military, armed forces. A topic o ...
s headquartered in
Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...
, Indiana. It comprises
state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...
, U.S. territory, and overseas departments, in turn made up of local posts. It was established in March 1919 in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, France, by officers and men of the
American Expeditionary Forces The American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) was a formation of the United States Armed Forces on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front during World War I, composed mostly of units from the United States Army, U.S. Army. The AEF was establis ...
(A.E.F.). It was subsequently chartered by the 66th U.S. Congress on September 16, 1919. The Legion played the leading role in drafting and passing the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the "
G.I. Bill The G.I. Bill, formally the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I. (military), G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in ...
". In addition to organizing commemorative events, members assist at Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals and clinics. It is active in issue-oriented U.S. politics. Its primary political activity is
lobbying Lobbying is a form of advocacy, which lawfully attempts to directly influence legislators or government officials, such as regulatory agency, regulatory agencies or judiciary. Lobbying involves direct, face-to-face contact and is carried out by va ...
on behalf of
veteran A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in an job, occupation or Craft, field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in the military, armed forces. A topic o ...
s and service members, including for benefits such as pensions and the
Veterans Health Administration The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is the component of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) led by the Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Health that implements the healthcare program of the VA through a Nationali ...
.


History

The American Legion was established in Paris, France, on March 15 to 17, 1919, by a thousand
commissioned officers An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer (NCO), or a warrant officer. However, absent c ...
and enlisted men, delegates from all the units of the
American Expeditionary Forces The American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) was a formation of the United States Armed Forces on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front during World War I, composed mostly of units from the United States Army, U.S. Army. The AEF was establis ...
to an organization
caucus A caucus is a group or meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries and political cultures. The term originated in the United States, where it can refer to ...
meeting, which adopted a tentative constitution and selected the name "American Legion".


Background

The aftermath of two American wars in the second half of the 19th century had seen the formation of several ex-soldiers' organizations. Former Union Army soldiers of the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
of 1861–65 established a fraternal organization, the
Grand Army of the Republic The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army (United States Army), Union Navy (United States Navy, U.S. Navy), and the United States Marine Corps, Marines who served in the American Ci ...
(GAR), while their Southern counterparts formed the United Confederate Veterans (UCV). Both organizations emerged as powerful political entities, with the GAR serving as a mainstay of the Republican Party, which controlled the presidency from the Civil War through
William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) served as the 27th president of the United States from 1909 to 1913 and the tenth chief justice of the United States from 1921 to 1930. He is the only person to have held both offices. ...
's administration except during
Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, serving from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. He was the first U.S. president to serve nonconsecutive terms and the first Hist ...
's two terms in office. In Southern politics the UCV maintained an even more dominant position as a bulwark of the Democratic Party, which dominated there. The conclusion of the brief Spanish–American conflict of 1898 ushered in another soldiers' organization, the American Veterans of Foreign Service, known today as the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (VFW).


20th century


Birth of the Legion

With the termination of hostilities in World War I in November 1918, some American officers who had participated in the conflict began to think about creating a similar organization for the two million men who had been on European duty. The need for an organization for former members of the AEF was pressing and immediate. With the war at an end, hundreds of thousands of impatient draftees found themselves trapped in
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
and pining for home, certain only that untold weeks or months lay ahead of them before their return would be logistically possible. Morale plummeted. Cautionary voices were raised about an apparent correlation between disaffected and discharged troops and the
Bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...
uprisings in
Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
,
Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...
,
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
, and
Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
. This situation was a particular matter of concern to Lieutenant Colonel
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. Theodore Roosevelt III ( ; September 13, 1887 – July 12, 1944), often known as Theodore Jr.,Morris, Edmund (1979). ''The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt''. index.While it was President Theodore Roosevelt who was legally named Theodore Roosevelt Jr ...
, President
Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...
's eldest son. One day in January 1919, he had a discussion at General Headquarters with the mobilized
National Guard National guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. ...
officer George A. White, a former newspaper editor at the Portland '' Oregonian.'' After long discussion, he suggested the immediate establishment of a new servicemen's organization including all AEF members as well as those soldiers who remained stateside as members of the
Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...
,
Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...
, and
Marine Corps Marines (or naval infantry) are military personnel generally trained to operate on both land and sea, with a particular focus on amphibious warfare. Historically, the main tasks undertaken by marines have included raiding ashore (often in supp ...
during the war without having been shipped abroad. Roosevelt and White advocated ceaselessly for this proposal until they found sufficient support at headquarters to move forward with the plan. General John J. Pershing issued orders to a group of 20 non-career officers to report to the
YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...
in Paris on February 15, 1919. Roosevelt had personally selected these men. They were joined by a number of regular Army officers Pershing selected. The session of reserve and regular officers was instructed to provide a set of laws to curb the problem of declining morale. After three days, the officers presented a series of proposals, including eliminating restrictive regulations, organizing additional athletic and recreational events, and expanding leave time and entertainment programs. At the end of the first day, the officers retired to the Inter-Allied Officers Club, a converted home across the street from the YMCA building. There, Roosevelt told them of his proposal for a new veterans' society. Most of those present were rapidly won to Roosevelt's plan. The officers decided to make all their actions provisional until an elected convention of delegates could convene and did not predetermine a program for the unnamed veterans organization. Instead, they chose to expand their number with a large preliminary meeting, to consist of an equal number of elected delegates to represent both enlisted men and commissioned officers. A provisional executive committee of four men emerged from the February 15 "Roosevelt dinner": Roosevelt in the first place, who was to return to the U.S. and obtain his
military discharge A military discharge is given when a member of the armed forces is released from their obligation to serve. Each country's military has different types of discharge. They are generally based on whether the persons completed their training and the ...
when able, and then to gather assistants and promote the idea of the new veterans' organization among demobilized troops there; White, who was to travel to France touring the AEF camps and explaining the idea; veteran wartime administrator Eric Fisher Wood, who was to establish a central office and maintain contact with the various combat divisions and headquarters staffs, as well as publicize activities to the press; and former
Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...
Congressman Ralph D. Cole. Preparations for a convention in Paris began apace. Wood prepared a convention call and "invitations" were distributed to about 2,000 officers and enlisted men and publicized in the March 14, 1919 issue of '' Stars and Stripes.'' The convention call expressed the desire to form "one permanent nation-wide organization...composed of all parties, all creeds, and all ranks who wish to perpetuate the relationships formed while in military service." In addition to the personal invitations distributed, the published announcement indicated that "any officer or enlisted man not invited who is in Paris at the time of the meeting is invited to be present and to have a voice in the meeting." The conclave was slated to begin on March 15. The site of Ferdinand Branstetter Post No. 1 is a vacant lot in Van Tassell, Wyoming, where the first American Legion post in the U.S. was established in 1919. Branstetter was a Van Tassell resident who died in World War I. The structure housing the post has since been demolished. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969. In 1969, it was hoped that an interpretative sign would be put up, and also possibly that a restored post building would be constructed. The first post of the Legion, General John Joseph Pershing Post Number 1 in Washington, DC, was organized on March 7, 1919, and obtained the first charter issued to any Legion post on May 19, 1919. The St. Louis caucus that year decided that Legion posts should not be named after living persons, and the first post changed its name to George Washington Post 1. The post completed the constitution and made plans for a permanent organization. It set up temporary headquarters in New York City and began its relief, employment, and Americanism programs. On May 20, 1919, Colonel Ernest Lester Jones received a petition from 20 of the enlisted women of the U.S. Naval Reserve Force for a charter to organize a post to be known as "Betsy Ross Post No. l", composed entirely of Yeomen (F) of the U.S. Navy. In October of that year, the post changed its name to U.S.S. Jacob Jones, which commemorated the members' Navy heritage. Congress granted The American Legion a national charter in September 1919. The American Legion chartered Paris Post No. 1 on December 13, 1919. It was the first overseas post to be chartered and has been in continuous existence since then. China Post One, formed in 1919, one year after the "great war" and chartered by The American Legion on April 20, 1920, was originally named the General Frederick Townsend Ward Post No. 1, China. It is the only post nominally headquartered in a Communist country, and has been operating in exile since 1948—presently in Fate, Texas.


Paris Caucus

Having immediately received a blizzard of acceptances to attend the opening of the "Liberty League Caucus", as he had begun to call it, Temporary Secretary Eric Fisher Wood began to search for use of a room of sufficient size to contain the gathering. The Cirque de Paris had been retained, a large, multisided amphitheater that could accommodate about 2,000 people. Delegates began to assemble from all over France. The 10:00 am scheduled start was delayed by various logistical problems, with a beginning finally made shortly after 2:45 pm. As "Temporary Chairman" Teddy Roosevelt Jr. had already departed for America, the session was gaveled to order by Wood, who briefly recounted Roosevelt's idea and the story of the 20 AEF officers who had jointly helped to give the new organization form. In his opening remarks, Wood recommended to the delegates of the so-called Paris Caucus that they do three things: first, set up an apparatus to conduct a formal founding conference in the U.S. sometime in the winter; second, draft a tentative name for the organization; and finally, compose a provisional constitution to be submitted to the founding convention for acceptance or rejection. William G. Price Jr. was selected to preside. Convention rules were decided upon and four 15-member committees were chosen. The Committee on Name reported back that it had considered a dozen potential names, including Veterans of the Great War, Liberty League, American Comrades of the Great War, Legion of the Great War, and The American Legion, among others. This list was whittled down to five ranked choices for the consideration of the Caucus, with "The American Legion" the preferred option. It was noted in passing during the course of debate on the topic that Roosevelt had been responsible for an earlier organization called "The American Legion" in 1914, a "preparedness" society with a claimed membership of 35,000 that had been absorbed into the
Council of National Defense The Council of National Defense was a United States organization formed during World War I to coordinate resources and industry in support of the war effort, including the coordination of transportation, industrial and farm production, financial s ...
in 1916. The Committee on Constitution reported with a report containing the draft of a Preamble for the organization, specifying organizational objectives. This document stated that the group:
desiring to perpetuate the principles of Justice, Freedom, and Democracy for which we have fought, to inculcate the duty and obligation of the citizen to the State; to preserve the history and incidents of our participation in the war; and to cement the ties of comradeship formed in service, do propose to found and establish an Association for the furtherance of the foregoing purposes.
The majority report of the Committee on Convention recommended that 11 am on November 11, 1919—one year to the hour after the termination of hostilities in World War I—be selected as the date and time for the convocation of a national convention. No location was specified. The Committee on Permanent Organization recommended an organization based upon territorial units rather than those based upon military organizations, governed by an Executive Committee of 50, with half of these from the officer corps and half from the ranks of enlisted men.


St. Louis Caucus

The Paris Caucus in March was by its nature limited to AEF soldiers who remained in Europe; a parallel organizational meeting for those who had returned to the American preparatory to a formal organizational convention was deemed necessary. This was a conclave dominated by the presence of Roosevelt, who called the convention to order amid mass chanting akin to that of a presidential nominating convention—"We Want Teddy! We Want Teddy!" A minor crisis followed when Roosevelt twice declined nomination for permanent chairman of the session, to the consternation of many overwrought delegates, who sought to emphasize the symbolism of President Roosevelt's son maintaining the closest of connections with the organization. The St. Louis Caucus's work was largely shaped by the fundamental decisions made by the earlier Paris Caucus. Its agenda was in addition carefully prepared by a 49-member "Advance Committee", which included at least one delegate from each fledgling state organization and drew up a draft program for the organization in advance of the convention's opening. As time before the scheduled start of the convention was short, delegation to the assembly was highly irregular. On April 10, 1919, Temporary Secretary Eric Fisher Wood mailed a letter to the governors of every state, informing them of the forthcoming gathering and making note of the League's nonpartisan and patriotic nature. Follow-up cables by Roosevelt and Wood encouraged the organization of state conventions to select delegates. This was largely a failed formality, as states lacked sufficient time to organize themselves and properly elect delegates to St. Louis. In practice, the fledgling organization's provisional Executive Committee decided to allow each state delegation twice as many votes as that state had in the
United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...
and left it to each to determine how to apportion those votes. Participants at the St. Louis Caucus were enthusiastic, but the session was not productive. Fully two days were invested choosing ceremonial officers and selecting Minneapolis as the site for the organization's formal Founding Convention in the fall. Over 1,100 participants competed to gain the floor to speechify, leading one historian to call the scene a "melee" in which "disorder reigned supreme". Consequently, the gathering's passage of the program was largely a ''pro forma'' exercise, rushed through during the session's last day, with the actual decision-making about such matters as the constitution and the organization's publications done by committee at night. The preamble of the constitution adopted in St. Louis became one of the seminal statements of the Legion's orientation and objectives:
For God and Country we associate ourselves together for the following purposes:

To uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America; to maintain law and order; to foster and perpetuate a 100 Percent Americanism; to preserve the memories and incidents of our association in the Great War; to inculcate a sense of individual obligation to the community, state, and nation; to combat the autocracy of both the classes and the masses; to make right the master of might; to promote peace and good will on earth; to safeguard and transmit to prosperity the principles of justice, freedom, and democracy; to consecrate and sanctify our comradeship by devotion to mutual helpfulness.
The St. Louis Caucus spent much of its time discussing resolutions: whether a stand should be taken on the
League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...
,
Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...
, or the implementation of universal military service; whether posts composed of
Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...
soldiers should be established; and whether Secretary of War
Newton D. Baker Newton Diehl Baker Jr. (December 3, 1871 – December 25, 1937) was an American lawyer, Georgist,Noble, Ransom E. "Henry George and the Progressive Movement." The American Journal of Economics and Sociology, vol. 8, no. 3, 1949, pp. 259–269. w ...
should be impeached for his apparent leniency toward
conscientious objectors A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of conscience or freedom of religion, religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for ...
in the months after the war. A particularly hard line was taken toward the American radical movement, with one resolution passed on the final day calling on Congress to "pass a bill or immediately deporting every one of those
Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...
or
Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), whose members are nicknamed "Wobblies", is an international labor union founded in Chicago, United States in 1905. The nickname's origin is uncertain. Its ideology combines general unionism with indu ...
."
Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...
, was chosen for the site of the organization's founding convention in November over the more centrally located
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
after much acrimonious debate about the Chicago city administration's perceived political transgressions.


Founding convention

The formal founding convention was held in
Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...
,
Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...
, from November 10 to 12, 1919. 684 delegates from across the nation attended. From the outset, The American Legion maintained a strictly
nonpartisan Nonpartisan or non-partisan may refer to: __NOTOC__ General political concepts * Nonpartisanship, also known as Nonpartisanism, co-operation without reference to political parties * Non-partisan democracy, an election with no official recognition ...
orientation toward electoral politics. The group wrote a specific prohibition of the endorsement of political candidates into its constitution, declaring:
this organization shall be absolutely non-political and shall not be used for the dissemination of partisan principles or for the promotion of the candidacy of any person seeking public office or preferment; and no candidate for or incumbent of a salaried elective public office shall hold any office in The American Legion or in any branch or post thereof.
One semi-official historian of the organization has noted the way that this explicit refusal to affiliate with a political party had the paradoxical effect of rapidly building great political power for the organization, as politicians from both of the "old parties" competed for the favor of the Legion's massive and active membership. One of the gathering's primary accomplishments was the establishment of a permanent National Legislative Committee to advance the Legion's political objectives as its lobbying arm. The first iteration of this official Washington, D.C.–based lobby for the Legion included only four members—two Republicans and two Democrats. After 1920 the National Legislative Committee was expanded to consist of one member from each state, with additional effort made at the state level to exert pressure upon various state legislatures. Chief on the Legion's legislative agenda was a dramatic improvement of the level of compensation for soldiers who suffered permanent disability during the war. At the time of the end of World War I, American law stated that soldiers who suffered total disability were to receive only the base pay of a
private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...
—$30 per month. The Legion concentrated its lobbying effort in 1919 on passage of legislation increasing payment for total disability suffered in the war to $80 a month—a sum roughly sufficient to provide a living wage. Those partially disabled by their wounds would receive lesser payments. A flurry of lobbying by the Legion's National Legislative Committee in conjunction with cables National Commander Franklin D'Olier sent to Congressional leaders helped pass this legislation by the end of 1919. The Legion's chief base of support during its first years was among the officers corps of the reserves and the
National Guard National guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. ...
. The regular army was comparatively small and its representation in the League in its earliest days was even more limited. Consequently, for nearly two decades The Legion maintained a largely isolationist perspective, best expressed in three resolutions passed by the Minneapolis founding convention:
1. That a large standing army is uneconomic and un-American. National safety with freedom from militarism is best assured by a national citizen army and navy based on the democratic principles of equality of obligation and opportunity for all.

2. That we favor universal military training and the administration of such a policy should be removed from the complete control of any exclusively military organization or caste.

3. That we are strongly opposed to compulsory military service in time of peace.
Additional resolutions the founding convention passed emphasized the need for military preparedness, albeit through a citizens' army of reservists and National Guardsmen rather than the costly and undemocratic structure of a vast standing army led by a professional military caste. This nationalist isolationism remained in place until the eve of American entry into
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.


Centralia massacre

November 11, 1919, the first anniversary of
Armistice Day Armistice Day, later known as Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth and Veterans Day in the United States, is commemorated every year on 11 November to mark Armistice of 11 November 1918, the armistice signed between th ...
and the occasion of the Legion's formal launch at its Minneapolis Founding Convention, was also a historic moment of violence and controversy. On that day a parade of Legionnaires took place in the mill town of Centralia, in southwestern Washington. Some of the marchers planned at the conclusion of their patriotic demonstration to storm and ransack the local hall maintained by the
Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), whose members are nicknamed "Wobblies", is an international labor union founded in Chicago, United States in 1905. The nickname's origin is uncertain. Its ideology combines general unionism with indu ...
, a labor union founded 14 years earlier at a convention of socialists, anarchists, Marxists, and radical trade unionists from all over the U.S., which had been the target of multiple arrests, large trials, and various incidents of mob violence during the months of American participation in World War I. But the plans for this violence had reached union members (commonly called Wobblies), and 30 or 40 IWW members had been seen coming and going at their hall on the day of the march, some of them carrying guns. At 2 p.m. the march began at the city park, led by a
marching band A marching band is a group of instrumental musicians who play while marching. Historically they were used in armed forces and many marching bands remain military bands. Others are still associated with military units or emulate a military sty ...
playing "Over There". Marchers included Boy Scouts, members of the local Elks Lodge, active-duty sailors, and marines, with about 80 members of the newly established Centralia and Chehalis posts bringing up the rear. As the parade turned onto Tower Avenue and crossed Second Street, it passed IWW Hall. The parade stopped and Legionnaires surrounded the hall. Parade Marshal Adrian Cormier rode up on horseback and, according to some witnesses, blew a whistle giving the signal to the Legionnaires to charge the IWW headquarters building. A group of marchers rushed the hall, smashing the front plate-glass window and attempting to kick the door in. As the door gave way, shots were fired at the intruders from within. This provided the signal to other armed IWW members, who were stationed across the street, to set up crossfire against potential invaders, and they also began firing on the Legionnaires. In less than a minute the firing was over, with three AL members left dead or dying and others wounded. Taken by surprise by the armed defense of IWW headquarters, many Legionnaires rushed home to arm themselves, while others broke into local hardware stores to steal guns and ammunition. Now armed, a furious mob reassembled and charged the IWW Hall again, capturing six IWW members inside. The mob destroyed the hall's front porch and a large bonfire was built, upon which were torched the local Wobblies' official records, books, newspapers and mattresses. One local Wobbly, Wesley Everest, escaped through a back door when he saw the mob approaching the hall. He fled into nearby woods, exchanging gunshots with his pursuers. One of those chasing him was hit in the chest several times with bullets and killed, increasing the Legionnaires' death toll to four. Everest was taken alive, kicked and beaten, with a belt wrapped around his neck as he was dragged back to town to be
lynched Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged or convicted transgressor or to intimidate others. It can also be an extreme form of in ...
. But local police intervened, and Everest was taken to jail, where he was thrown down on the concrete floor. At 7:30 pm, on cue, all city lights in town went out for 15 minutes and Legionnaires stopped cars and forced them to turn out their headlights. The Elks Hall gathering entered the jail without meeting resistance and took Everest, dragging him away to a waiting car but leaving other incarcerated Wobblies untouched. A procession of six cars drove west to a railroad bridge across the Chehalis River. A rope was attached to Everest's neck and he was pushed off the bridge, but the lynching attempt was bungled and Everest's neck was not snapped by the fall. Everest was hauled up again, a longer rope was substituted, and Everest was pushed off the bridge again. The lynch mob then shined their car headlights on the hanging Everest and shot him. Although a mob milled around the jail all night, terrorizing the occupants, no further acts of extra-legal retribution were taken. Everest's body was cut down the next morning, falling into the riverbed below, where it remained all day. As night fell, Everest's body was hauled back to town, the rope still around his neck, where it was refused by local undertakers and left on the floor of the jail in sight of the prisoners all night. No charges were ever filed in connection with the lynching. A grand jury ultimately indicted 12 IWW members for
first-degree murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse committed with the necessary intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisdiction. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse ...
in connection with the killing of the four Legionnaires and a local left-wing lawyer was charged as an accessory to the crime. A January 1920 trial resulted in the conviction of six defendants on charges of second-degree murder. A memorial statue created by Alonzo Victor Lewis, known as '' The Sentinel'', was dedicated in Centralia's George Washington Park in 1924 to honor the four legionnaires - Casagranda, Grimm, Hubbard, and McElfresh - killed during the Armistice Day Riot.


1920s: Patriotism and Bonus

The Legion was very active in the 1920s. The organization was formally nonpartisan, endorsing no political party. Instead the group worked to the spread of the ideology of Americanism and acted as a lobbying organization on behalf of issues of importance to veterans, with particular emphasis on winning a "soldier's bonus" payment from the government. Led by top lobbyist Colonel John Thomas Taylor, it helped secure passage in 1924 over presidential veto of The World War Adjusted Compensation Act, or Bonus Act. The law granted a life insurance policy to veterans of military service in World War I. The actual payout was promised for 1945, but veterans would get a certificate immediately and they could borrow against it from banks. The Legion also served a strong social function, building and buying "clubhouses" in communities across America at which its members could gather, reflect, network, and socialize. The Legion was instrumental in the creation of the U.S. Veterans' Bureau, now known as the Department of Veterans Affairs. The Legion also created its own
American Legion Baseball American Legion Baseball is a variety of amateur baseball played by 13-to-19-year-olds in fifty states in the U.S. and Canada. More than 3,500 teams participate each year. The American Legion Department of South Dakota established the program in 1 ...
Program, hosting national tournaments annually since 1926. Commander Travers D. Carmen awarded
Charles Lindbergh Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, and author. On May 20–21, 1927, he made the first nonstop flight from New York (state), New York to Paris, a distance of . His aircra ...
the Legion's first "Distinguished Service Medal" on July 22, 1927. The Legion's national convention was held in Paris in September 1927. A major part of this was a drum and bugle corps competition in which approximately 14,000 members took part.


Controversy

According to William Pencak:
Veterans and their role in American society were extremely controversial in the twenties and thirties, both because of actual issues such as the Bonus or veterans’ support for defense expenditures, but also because critics saw in the American Legion a mirror of the powerful fascist movements in Europe, such as the Nazis in Germany and Fascists in Italy. The comparison reflected fear more than rationality: the Legion had no need or desire to overthrow the government. It was able to achieve nearly all its goals through traditional political channels and strongly supported constitutional authority. Its members did not wear military uniforms (only the familiar caps), elected its officers through democratic means—although as in all associations, an active elite ran the show—and had black, Catholic, and Jewish members. It boasted of Jewish national chaplains and Catholic national commanders. . . .The Legion’s anti-radical program was typical of conservatives throughout American history, who . . . rarely concerned themselves with the rights of union organizers or socialist ‘‘agitators’’ despite the formal constitutional protections.


Americanism

The Legion's efforts to promote Americanism during the 1920s included urging its members to report on publication materials perceived to be subversive, left-wing, or reflective of radical foreign political views, and established a National Americanism Commission to oversee its actions related to subversive activities. It commissioned the development of textbooks that promoted American patriotism, worked with members of the
National Education Association The National Education Association (NEA) is the largest labor union in the United States. It represents public school teachers and other support personnel, faculty and staffers at colleges and universities, retired educators, and college st ...
to promote teaching history from an American perspective, and sought the removal of textbooks it saw as "un-American". In 1940 the Legion joined conservative publicists who were attacking high school American history textbooks by Harold Rugg. They complained the books were politically loaded against business and promoted socialism. The Legion supported legislation restricting immigration and seditious speech and used its influence in an effort to deny public forums to speakers whose views it opposed. In 1923, Legion Commander Alvin Owsley cited
Italian Fascism Italian fascism (), also called classical fascism and Fascism, is the original fascist ideology, which Giovanni Gentile and Benito Mussolini developed in Italy. The ideology of Italian fascism is associated with a series of political parties le ...
as a model for defending the nation against the forces of the left. Owsley said:
If ever needed, the American Legion stands ready to protect our country's institutions and ideals as the Fascisti dealt with the destructionists who menaced Italy! ... The American Legion is fighting every element that threatens our democratic government—Soviets, anarchists, IWW, revolutionary socialists and every other red ... Do not forget that the Fascisti are to Italy what the American Legion is to the United States.Alec Campbell, "Where Do All the Soldiers Go?: Veterans and the Politics of Demobilization", in Diane E. Davis, Anthony W. Pereira, eds., ''Irregular Armed Forces and their Role in Politics and State Formation.'' New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003; pp. 110–111.
The Legion invited Mussolini to speak at its convention as late as 1930, but he never came.


Great Depression

The American Legion Memorial Bridge in
Traverse City, Michigan Traverse City ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Grand Traverse County, Michigan, Grand Traverse County, although it partly extends into Leelanau County, Michigan, Leelanau County. The city's population was 15, ...
, was completed in 1930. The Traverse City city commission decided to purchase dedication plaques for $100 at the request of the Legion in 1930. The Sons of the American Legion formed at the 14th National Convention in
Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...
, on September 12–15, 1932. Membership is limited to the male descendants of members of The American Legion, or deceased individuals who served in the armed forces of the United States during times specified by the Legion. In the spring of 1933, at the very beginning of his presidency, President
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...
sought to balance the federal budget by sharp reductions in veterans benefits, which constituted one quarter of the federal budget. The Economy Act of 1933 cut disability pensions and established strict new guidelines for proving disabilities. The Legion generally supported the FDR administration and the Act, while the VFW was loudly opposed. After a VFW convention heard speeches denouncing FDR's programs, the Legion invited Roosevelt to speak and he won the convention's support. Nevertheless, the Legion's stance was unpopular with its membership and membership plummeted in 1933 by 20% as 160,000 failed to renew their memberships. The VFW then campaigned for a "Bonus Bill" that would immediately pay World War I veterans what they were due in 1945 under the 1924 World War Adjusted Compensation Act. The Legion's failure to take a similar position allowed the much smaller, less prestigious VFW to rally support while accusing the Legion of ties to the FDR Administration and business interests. In 1935, the first Boys' State convened in
Springfield, Illinois Springfield is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Illinois. Its population was 114,394 at the 2020 United States census, which makes it the state's List of cities in Illinois, seventh-most populous cit ...
. The Legion's first National High School Oratorical Contest was held in 1938. After the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane, which killed about 480 former servicemen and women, the Legion was very critical of the government and the safety of the
New Deal The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...
's
Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...
camps. When Col. Taylor testified about the event in front of the House Committee on World War Veterans' Legislation in 1937, he tried to have the Legion's report "Murder at Matecumbe" read into the Congressional Record. He was stopped by Chairman John Elliott Rankin and asked to leave a copy for the committee to review. It was made clear that the copy would not be put into the record.


World War II

In 1942, the Legion adopted the practice of the VFW to become a perpetual organization, rather than die off as its membership aged as that of the
Grand Army of the Republic The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army (United States Army), Union Navy (United States Navy, U.S. Navy), and the United States Marine Corps, Marines who served in the American Ci ...
was rapidly doing. The Legion's charter was changed to allow veterans of World War II to join.


G.I. Bill

Throughout the 1940s, the Legion was active in providing support for veterans and soldiers who fought in World War II. The Legion wrote the original draft of the Veterans Readjustment Act, which became known as the
G.I. Bill The G.I. Bill, formally the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I. (military), G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in ...
. The original draft is preserved at the Legion's National Headquarters. It was passed in 1944 by a conservative coalition in Congress that want to reach practically all wartime veterans, as opposed to the Roosevelt administration that wanted a much smaller program limited to poverty-stricken veterans. The Legion mobilized its members across the country and secured passage in June 1944. Benefits included low-cost home mortgages, low-interest loans to start a business or buy a farm, cash payments of tuition and living expenses to attend high school, college or vocational/technical school, as well as one year of
unemployment compensation Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is the proportion of people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for Work (hu ...
. It was available to veterans who had been on active duty during the war years for at least 120 days and had not been dishonorably discharged—exposure to combat was not required. The Legion helped veterans fill out the paperwork and obtain the benefits.


Refusal of Japanese American veterans

Many posts and departments refused
Japanese Americans are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian Americans, Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 United States census, 2000 census, they have declined in ...
entry into the Legion, until white officers from the 442nd RCT lobbied on behalf of their troops, gaining charters for the segregated Nisei Post 1183 in Chicago, Illinois, and a joint Chinese and Japanese Cathay Post 185 in Denver, Colorado. California veterans managed to convince a forward thinking VFW state commander to grant charters for 14 segregated Nisei VFW posts to returning veterans there, however Washington and Oregon state commanders for both the VFW and the Legion refused, and those veterans were forced to form their own independent Nisei veteran organizations. Post 22 of Hood River, Oregon even passed a resolution to remove the names of 16 local Japanese-American veterans from its roll of honor. Scathing editorials in
The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the West Coast of the United States, U.S. West Coast, founded as a weekly by Tho ...
and
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
eventually caused the post to reverse its course, restoring all the names of Nisei servicemen from Hood River to the wall.


Cold War

As the new veterans returned home, membership soared to 3.3 million in 1946, triple the prewar number. There were another million members in the Women's Auxiliary. Its main objective after the war was to set up universal military service, but it had to settle for selective conscription. The first Boys Nation program was held in 1946. Late in 1950, at least some local Legion organizations began to support Senator Joe McCarthy, sponsoring his appearance at an "Americanism" rally in Houston. During his speech, the senator falsely claimed there were 205 Communists in the State Department. The Legion also took a McCarthyist stance on film, threatening to boycott any theater that screened director
Edward Dmytryk Edward Dmytryk (September 4, 1908 – July 1, 1999) was a Canadian-born American film director and editor. He was known for his 1940s films noir, noir films and received an Academy Award for Best Director, Oscar nomination for Best Director for ...
's ''Salt to the Devil'' (also known as ''Give Us This Day'') (1949) because of Dmytryk's status on the blacklist. At the Legion's 1951 convention, it formally endorsed its "Back to God" movement. When launching the program in 1953 with a national television broadcast that included speeches by President Eisenhower and Vice-President
Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 36th vice president under P ...
, the Legion's National Commander Lewis K. Gough said it promoted "regular
church attendance Church attendance is a central religious practice for many Christians; some Christian denominations require church attendance on the Lord's Day (Sunday). The Catholic Church teaches that on Sundays and other holy days of obligation, the faithf ...
, daily family prayer, and the religious training of children." The Legion's Americanism activities continued through to the 1950s. It promoted the passage of state bills requiring
loyalty oath Loyalty is a Fixation (psychology), devotion to a country, philosophy, group, or person. Philosophers disagree on what can be an object of loyalty, as some argue that loyalty is strictly interpersonal and only another human being can be the obj ...
s of school teachers, and supported the activities of anti-Communist newspaper publishers, including
William Randolph Hearst William Randolph Hearst (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American newspaper publisher and politician who developed the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His extravagant methods of yellow jou ...
, in identifying Communist sympathizers in academic institutions. It was also influential in the creation of state-level legislative investigations into communist or un-American activities, and staged a mock Communist takeover of Mosinee, Wisconsin that garnered national headlines. Its programs were rejuvenated by increased membership after World War II, and in its 1950 convention called for members of the American Communist Party to be tried for
treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state (polity), state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to Coup d'état, overthrow its government, spy ...
. Along with the VFW, it maintained files on supposed Communist sympathizers, and it shared the fruits of its research with government investigators. Local posts picketed films they perceived as anti-American, and the national organization was formally involved in Hollywood's efforts to clear films of such influence. The list of names and organizations the Legion provided to movie studios formed the basis for the
Hollywood blacklist The Hollywood blacklist was the mid-20th century banning of suspected Communists from working in the United States entertainment industry. The blacklisting, blacklist began at the onset of the Cold War and Red Scare#Second Red Scare (1947–1957 ...
, and supported the work of the
House Un-American Activities Committee The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative United States Congressional committee, committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 19 ...
and its predecessors before and during the
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
. It was unsuccessful in applying pressure to the movie studios when the blacklist began to crumble in the late 1950s. The Legion's political activities were opposed from an early date by organizations like the
American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. T ...
(ACLU), which characterized them as a danger to political and civil rights. In a report issued in 1921, the ACLU documented 50 instances of what it described as illegal acts of violence by Legionnaires. In 1927, the ACLU reported that the Legion "had replaced the u KluxKlan as the most active agent of intolerance and repression in the country. The Legion, for its part, branded the ACLU as an un-American organization at every convention it held between 1920 and 1962. In 1952, the Legion asked for a congressional investigation into the ACLU to determine if it was a communist or communist front organization. Veterans of the Korean War were approved for membership in The Legion in 1950, and The American Legion Child Welfare Foundation was formed in 1954. Although the Legion paid very close attention to the threat of domestic communism, it did not pay much attention to foreign affairs before 1945. It ignored the League of Nations, and was hostile to the Washington Naval Conference of 1921 that rolled back the naval arms race in the 1920s. Pacifism was popular in the 1920s, and Legion locals ridiculed it and sometimes booed the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. During World War II, it accepted the wartime alliance with Stalin against Nazi Germany. As the Cold War emerged in 1946–47, the Legion paid increasing attention to an anti-Soviet foreign policy. Its Counter-Subversive Activities Committee in 1946 began publishing the ''American Legion Firing Line,'' a newsletter for members which provides information on communist, fascist, and other extremist groups to its subscribers. It warned members against far-right groups such as the
John Birch Society The John Birch Society (JBS) is an American right-wing political advocacy group. Founded in 1958, it is anti-communist, supports social conservatism, and is associated with ultraconservative, radical right, far-right, right-wing populist, and ...
and anti-Semitic groups. By the late 1950s the newsletter became much more interested in foreign affairs. The Legion's policy resolutions endorsed large-scale defense spending and the deployment of powerful new weapon systems from the hydrogen bomb in the 1950s to Reagan's
Strategic Defense Initiative The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) was a proposed missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by ballistic nuclear missiles. The program was announced in 1983, by President Ronald Reagan. Reagan called for a ...
in the 1980s. Harry Truman was the first Legionnaire to occupy the White House, but he came under Legion attack for waging a limited war in Korea and not following the advice of General Douglas MacArthur in attacking China. By 1961 the Legion outright rejected the policy of containment, and called for the liberation of the captive peoples in Eastern Europe. Legion members typically hailed Barry Goldwater as their hero, but like Goldwater they rejected the extremism of the
John Birch Society The John Birch Society (JBS) is an American right-wing political advocacy group. Founded in 1958, it is anti-communist, supports social conservatism, and is associated with ultraconservative, radical right, far-right, right-wing populist, and ...
. The Legion supported increased intervention in Vietnam, as well as anti-Communist forces in Central America and Afghanistan. The Legion never saw much benefit in the United Nations, and like other conservatives worried about a loss of American sovereignty to international bodies. The collapse of Soviet-style communism in Eastern Europe and in Russia itself saw the Legion looking to new venues for militaristic action. Thus, it praised President George H.W. Bush is intervention in Kuwait against Iraq in 1990. After 9-11, it vigorously endorsed President George W. Bush's strategy of a global war on terror, and supported the invasion of Iraq in 2003. On May 30, 1969, the Cabin John Bridge, which carried the
Capital Beltway The Capital Beltway, designated as Interstate 495 (I-495) for its entire length, is an List of auxiliary Interstate Highways, auxiliary Interstate Highway in the Washington metropolitan area. The Ring road, beltway encircles Washington, D.C., ...
(I-495) across the Potomac River northwest of Washington, was officially renamed to the " American Legion Memorial Bridge" in a ceremony led by Lt. Gen. Lewis B. Hershey, director of the U.S. Selective Service System. In 1976, an outbreak of
bacteria Bacteria (; : bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of Prokaryote, prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micr ...
l
pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...
occurred in a convention of the Legion at the Bellevue Stratford Hotel in
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
. This pneumonia killed 34 people at the convention and later became known as
Legionnaires' disease Legionnaires' disease is a form of atypical pneumonia caused by any species of ''Legionella'' bacteria, quite often ''Legionella pneumophila''. Signs and symptoms include cough, shortness of breath, high fever, myalgia, muscle pains, and headach ...
(''Legionellosis''). The bacterium that causes the illness was later named ''
Legionella ''Legionella'' is a genus of gram-negative bacteria, gram-negative bacteria that can be seen using a silver stain or grown in a special media that contains cysteine, an amino acid. It is known to cause legionellosis (all illnesses caused by ''Legi ...
''. In 1988, after over 44 years of opposing U.S. Merchant seamen from receiving benefits under the G.I. Bill, they allowed Merchant seamen to join the American Legion. This followed Merchant seamen being granted limited veterans status by the
United States Secretary of the Air Force The secretary of the Air Force, sometimes referred to as the secretary of the Department of the Air Force, (SecAF, or SAF/OS) is the head of the United States Department of the Air Force, Department of the Air Force and the service secretary for ...
on January 19, 1988. After a 1989
U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...
decision ('' Texas v. Johnson''), the American Legion launched and funded an unsuccessful campaign to win a constitutional amendment against harming the flag of the United States. The Legion formed the Citizens' Flag Honor Guard and it later became the Citizens Flag Alliance.


Close of the 20th century

In 1993, the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
renamed a bridge in the city of Chicopee to the "American Legion Memorial Bridge". Also in 1993, two members of Garden City,
Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...
, Post 396 shared an idea that would bond motorcycle enthusiasts in the Legion from the idea of Chuck Dare and post commander Bill Kaledas, creating the American Legion Riders. Joined by 19 other founding members, the group soon found itself inundated with requests for information about the new group. As a source of information was set up, and it continues to be a source of information worldwide. By 2009, the Legion Riders program had grown to over 1,000 chapters and 100,000 members in the United States and overseas. In a letter to U.S. President
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...
in May 1999, the Legion urged the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from
Operation Allied Force The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) carried out an aerial bombing campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. The air strikes lasted from 24 March 1999 to 10 June 1999. The bombings continued until an a ...
in
Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...
. The National Executive Committee of the Legion met and adopted a resolution unanimously that stated, in part, that they would only support military operations if "Guidelines be established for the mission, including a clear exit strategy" and "That there be support of the mission by the
U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a bicameral legislature, including a lower body, the U.S. House of Representatives, and an upper body, the U.S. Senate. They both ...
and the American people."


21st century

The American Legion sponsors Boys State and Girls State, an honor given to one male student and one female student in each high school, with selected individuals participating in a conference to learn about patriotism and government. On a national level, this occurs through Boys Nation and Girls Nation.


2000s

In 2006, the Chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee,
Steve Buyer Stephen Earle Buyer ( ; born November 26, 1958) is an American former politician who served as the U.S. representative for , and previously the , from 1993 until 2011. In Congress, Buyer served as one of the House managers (prosecutors) in the ...
(R-Ind.), announced that he planned to eliminate the annual congressional hearings for Veterans Service Organizations that was established by President
Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...
. In response, National Commander Thomas L. Bock said, "I am extremely disappointed in Chairman Buyer's latest effort to ignore the Veterans Service Organizations. Eliminating annual hearings before a joint session of the Veterans Affairs Committees will lead to continued budgetary shortfalls for VA resulting in veterans being underserved." The Legion has criticized the ACLU for using the threat of attorney fees to pressure locally elected bodies into removing religion from the public square. As such the Legion states that it "is leading a nationwide effort to combat the secular cleansing of our American heritage", stating that the phrase "
separation of church and state The separation of church and state is a philosophical and Jurisprudence, jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the State (polity), state. Conceptually, the term refers to ...
" is nowhere mentioned in the
First Amendment to the United States Constitution The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution prevents Federal government of the United States, Congress from making laws respecting an Establishment Clause, establishment of religion; prohibiting the Free Exercise Cla ...
The American Legion released a document titled "In the Footsteps of the Founders – A Guide to Defending American Values" to be available to the citizens of the United States of America. The veteran's organization has done this to curtail religious-establishment cases against the Boy Scouts and the official display of the
Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments (), or the Decalogue (from Latin , from Ancient Greek , ), are religious and ethical directives, structured as a covenant document, that, according to the Hebrew Bible, were given by YHWH to Moses. The text of the Ten ...
and other religious symbols on public property.


Recent events

In October 2011, National Commander Jimmie L. Foster objected to courts allowing homosexuals to serve openly in the military. On March 25, 2014, the Legion testified before Congress in favor of the bill " To amend title 38, United States Code, to reestablish the Professional Certification and Licensure Advisory Committee of the Department of Veterans Affairs (H.R. 2942; 113th Congress)." They argued that the legislation would "benefit service members, as well as those who eventually employ veterans in civilian work-force easing the placement of qualified veterans in civilian careers, and matching civilian employers with skilled veteran employees." The American Legion argued that this committee was important to the process of matching military certifications with their corresponding civilian ones, smoothing that transition for veterans, and that the committee provided much needed expertise on these matters to the VA. The Legion said that "there is a definite need to resume this independent body with expertise in matters relating to licensing and credentialing which can present new solutions to VA's senior leadership and congressional members as well as other stakeholders." In 2014, Verna L. Jones was appointed as the first female executive director of the Legion. In August 2017, Denise H. Rohan was elected as the first female national commander of the Legion.


Headquarters

The national headquarters, informally known as American Legion headquarters, is located on the Indiana World War Memorial Plaza at 700 North Pennsylvania Street,
Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...
, Indiana. It is the headquarters for the National Commander of The American Legion and also houses the archives, library, Membership, Internal Affairs, Public Relations, and ''The American Legion'' magazine's editorial offices. The national headquarters has expanded multiple times since its establishment.


Emblem

The World War I Victory Button on a narrow circular band of blue enamel, containing the words "American Legion" in gold letters, forms the central element of the American Legion Emblem. The Legion emblem or "button" was officially adopted by the National Executive Committee of The American Legion on July 9, 1919.


Eligibility

Membership in the American Legion was originally restricted to soldiers, sailors, and marines who served honorably between April 6, 1917, and November 11, 1918. Eligibility has since been expanded to include
personnel Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any othe ...
who served on
active duty Active duty, in contrast to reserve duty, is a full-time occupation as part of a military force. Indian The Indian Armed Forces are considered to be one of the largest active service forces in the world, with almost 1.42 million Active Standin ...
in the Armed Forces of the United States or armed forces associated with the U.S.,Amer. Legion Const. art. IV, § 1. between December 7, 1941, through a date of cessation of hostilities as determined by the
federal government A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...
, and was an American
citizen Citizenship is a membership and allegiance to a sovereign state. Though citizenship is often conflated with nationality in today's English-speaking world, international law does not usually use the term ''citizenship'' to refer to nationality ...
when they entered that service or continues to serve honorably. U.S. Merchant Marines who served between December 7, 1941, and December 31, 1946, are also eligible. Honorary, associate, social, or guest memberships in the Legion are not permitted. Members must be eligible through the nature and timing of their
military service Military service is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, air forces, and naval forces, whether as a chosen job (volunteer military, volunteer) or as a result of an involuntary draft (conscription). Few nations, such ...
. The following is a list of eligibility dates the American Legion uses to determine membership eligibility.


Publication

The official publication, originally known as ''The American Legion Weekly'', launched on July 4, 1919. In 1926, the Legion Weekly reduced the frequency of publication and was renamed ''The American Legion Monthly''. In 1936, the publication's name and volume numbering system changed again, this time to ''The American Legion''. The American Legion Digital Archive online offers scans of "American Legion magazine, national meeting digests, newsletters, press releases, and other publications published by the national organization."


See also

* Social history of soldiers and veterans in the United States * Centralia massacre (Washington) *
Business Plot The Business Plot, also called the Wall Street Putsch and the White House Putsch, was a political conspiracy in 1933 in the United States to overthrow the government of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and install Smedley Butler as dictator. But ...
* Forty and Eight *
G.I. Bill The G.I. Bill, formally the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I. (military), G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in ...
* LAPD Red Squad raid on John Reed Club art show *
Legionnaires' disease Legionnaires' disease is a form of atypical pneumonia caused by any species of ''Legionella'' bacteria, quite often ''Legionella pneumophila''. Signs and symptoms include cough, shortness of breath, high fever, myalgia, muscle pains, and headach ...
* '' Freedom Bell, American Legion'' * List of members of the American Legion * List of American Legion buildings *
List of veterans' organizations This is a list of veterans' organizations by country. List of veterans' organizations International veterans' organizations * Royal Commonwealth Ex-Services League * War Veterans Committee The Greatest Generations Federation* World Associati ...
* American Legion v. American Humanist Association


References


Citations


Sources

* * * * * * * * *


Further reading

* Bach, Morten. "None so consistently right: The American Legion's Cold War, 1945–1950" (PhD dissertation, Ohio University; ProQuest Dissertations & Theses,  2007. 3282048); argues its influence was modest. * Baker, Roscoe. ''The American Legion and American foreign policy'' (Greenwood, 1974) ** also (PhD dissertation, 1951, Northwestern University; ProQuest 10060862.) * * Burtin, Olivier. "A Nation of Veterans: The American Legion and the Politics of Veterans' Citizenship" (PhD dissertation,  Princeton University; ProQuest Dissertations & Theses,  2017. 10621397). * Campbell, Alec Duncan. "The invisible welfare state: Class struggles, the American Legion and the development of veterans' benefits in the twentieth century United States" (PhD dissertation,  University of California, Los Angeles; ProQuest Dissertations & Theses,  1997. 9811444). * Campbell, Alex. "The sociopolitical origins of the American Legion" ''Theoretical Sociology'' 39, 1–24 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11186-009-9097-1 * * Griffin, Christopher W.   "Veterans at war: The American Legion and civilian mobilization in World War II" (PhD dissertation, The Florida State University; ProQuest Dissertations & Theses,  2012. 3551137). * Hopely, Gregory S.  "Against the Classes and the Masses: The American Legion, the American Federation of Labor, and Square Deal Americanism in the 1920s" (PhD dissertation, Rowan University; ProQuest Dissertations & Theses,  2020. 27959303). * * Loosbrock, Richard J. “The history of the Kansas department of the American Legion: 1919 -1968” (PhD thesis University of Kansas; ProQuest Dissertations & Theses,  1968. 6911232). * * , an attack from the left. * * Nehls, Christopher Courtney.   " 'A grand and glorious feeling': The American Legion and American nationalism between the World Wars" (PhD dissertation, University of Virginia; ProQuest Dissertations & Theses,  2007. 3305894). * Pencak, William ed. ''Encyclopedia of the Veteran in America'' (2 vol. 2009) * * Ward, William Arthur. "The American Legion in American politics" (PhD dissertation,  University of Colorado at Boulder ProQuest Dissertations & Theses,  1970. 7023762).


External links

; Official * * ; General information *
American Legion politician members
at
The Political Graveyard The Political Graveyard is a website and database that catalogues information on more than 277,000 Politics of the United States, American political figures and List of United States political families, political families, along with other informa ...

The American Legion Centennial Celebration
* ; Archives
Washington American Legion Records
1919–1920. 4 microfilm reels. At th
Labor Archives of Washington, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections

Stephen Fowler Chadwick Papers
1917–1974. 21.1 cubic feet. At th
Labor Archives of Washington, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections
{{Authority control 1919 establishments in France 501(c)(19) nonprofit organizations Advocacy groups in the United States Aftermath of World War I in France Aftermath of World War I in the United States American veterans' organizations Anti-communist organizations in the United States Charities based in Indiana
American Legion The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is an Voluntary association, organization of United States, U.S. war veterans headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. It comprises U.S. state, state, Territories of the United States, U.S. terr ...
Lobbying organizations in the United States Magazine publishing companies of the United States Nonpartisan organizations in the United States Non-profit organizations based in Indianapolis Organizations established in 1919 Patriotic and national organizations chartered by the United States Congress Research libraries in the United States Service organizations based in the United States United States military support organizations