Skelton Pledge         National Anthem

 Discription of the Flag: The Flag of the United States has 13 stripes, seven red, representing valor and zeal, and six white, representing hope and cleanliness of life, with red on the top and the bottom.  The strips represent each of the thirteen original colonies that became the first thirteen states. The blue field represents the “Union” and symbolizes reverence and loyalty and the color of the heavens with one star for each of the fifty United States.  The star was selected because it is an ancient symbol of the heavens.

The Pledge of Allegiance: as presented on “The Red Skelton Hour” on January 14, 1969.

“I remember this one teacher.  To me he was the greatest teacher, a real sage of my time.  He had such wisdom. We were all reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, and he walked over.  Mr. Lasswell was his name . . . He said:

‘I’ve been listening to you boys and girls recite the Pledge of Allegiance all semester and it seems as though it is becoming monotonous to you. If I may, may I recite it and try to explain to you the meaning of each word:

I - me, an individual, a committee of one.

Pledge - dedicate all of my worldly goods to give without self-pity.

Allegiance - my love and my devotion.

To the Flag - our standard, Old Glory, a symbol of freedom.  Wherever she waves, there is respect because your loyalty has given her a dignity that shouts freedom is everybody’s job.

Of the United - that means that we have all come together.

States - individual communities that have united into 48 great states. 48 individual communities with pride and dignity and purpose, all divided with imaginary boundaries, yet united to a common purpose, and that’s love for country.

Of America.

And to the Republic - a state in which soverign power is invested in representatives chosen by the people to govern. And government is the people, and it’s from the people to the leaders, not from the leaders to the people.

For whch it stands.

One Nation under God - meaning, so blessed by God.

Indivisible - incapable of being divided.

With Liberty - Which is freedom and the right of power to live one’s own life without threats or fears or some sort of retaliation.

And justice - The principle or quality of dealing fairly with others.

For all - which means it’s as much for your country as it is mine.’

Since I was a small boy, two states have been added to our country and two words have been added to the Pledge of Allegiance - “under God.” 

Wouldn’t it be a pity if someone said, “Thats a prayer” and that it would be eliminated from schools, too?”    Red Skelton

The National Anthem -- The Star Spangled Banner’s, last verse is recorded here although it is seldom if ever sung.

Oh, thus be it ever when free men shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation:
Blest with victory and peace, may the Heaven-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just;
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust!”
And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave
o’er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.

The underlined was as originally underlined in the first writing in Francis Scott Key’s own hand.  It was the only thing that was so underlined.

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