American Legion

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The American Legion is an organization of veterans of the United States armed forces who served in wartime. The Organization was founded in 1919 by veterans returning from Europe after World War I and is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana.

American Legion logo
American Legion logo

In addition to organizing commemorative events and volunteer activities, the American Legion is active in U.S. politics. The primary political activity is lobbying for the interests of veterans, including support for veterans benefits such as pensions and the Veterans Affairs hospital system.

The state American Legions run an annual civic training event for high school juniors called Boys State. Two members from each Boys State are selected for Boys Nation. The American Legion Auxiliary runs Girls State and Girls Nation.

Today, the group has nearly 3 million members.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Founding

The American Legion's Post Officers Guide recounts the organization's founding, indicating that:

  • "A group of twenty officers who served in the American Expeditionary Forces (A.E.F.) in France in World War I is credited with planning the Legion. A.E.F. Headquarters asked these officers to suggest ideas on how to improve troop morale. One officer, Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., proposed an organization of veterans. In February 1919, this group formed a temporary committee and selected several hundred officers who had the confidence and respect of the whole army. When the first organization meeting took place in Paris on April 7, 1919, about 1,000 officers and enlisted men attended. The meeting, known as the Paris Caucus, adopted a temporary constitution and the name The American Legion. It also elected an executive committee to complete the organization’s work. It considered each soldier of the A.E.F. a member of the Legion. The executive committee named a subcommittee to organize veterans at home in the U.S. The Legion held a second organizing caucus in St. Louis, Missouri, in May 1919. It 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. Congress granted the Legion a national charter in September 1919. " American Legion Post No.1 is in Memphis, Tennessee. [1]

Information from the diary of Alvin C. York. April 7, 1919 Paris--I arrived in Paris at 8:30 A.M. and 10:30 A.M. was our meeting. I was there on time at the Hotel De Babriel. So we had the meeting all day until 5:30 P.M. This second time I went to Paris was to attend the first meeting that was called to organize the American Legion. I represented my division as a noncommissioned officer. Captain Williams of the machine gun company represented the commissioned officers of our division. And we all organized the American Legion that day in the Hotel. And there were officers and men representing all of the different American outfits in France. So I am a charter member of the American Legion.

[edit] 1910s

Lindbergh's Distinguished Service Medal
Lindbergh's Distinguished Service Medal

The first national convention of the American Legion was held from November 10-12, 1919 in Minneapolis, Minnesota at which time the attendees adopted a permanent constitution and elected officers to head the organization. The original purpose of the Legion was to "preserve the memories and incidents of our association in the great war". Prior to World War I, few rural, working class, or even middle class Americans traveled to Europe. For a majority of urban Americans, their understanding of Europe had been acquired through the European immigrants they knew. Thus the two million Americans who had served in the American Expeditionary Forces had had very different experiences than their families, friends and neighbors. The American Legion allowed these young men and women who had served "Over There" to re-integrate into their hometowns and to still remain in contact with others who had been abroad. The Legion served as a supportive group, a social club and a type of extended family for former service men and women. In 1919, a new American Legion group in Washington was involved in the Centralia Massacre (Washington).

[edit] 1920s

The American Legion was very active in the 1920s. It 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 Program. Commander Travers D. Carmen awarded Charles Lindbergh its "Distinguished Service Medal," the medal's first recipient, on July 22, 1927.

At its January 1923 Convention, Commander-in-Chief of the American Legion, Alvin Owsley endorsed Benito Mussolini and Fascism. Saying "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."

Asked whether that meant taking over the government, he replied "Exactly that. The American Legion is fighting every element that threatens our democratic government-Soviets, anarchists, I.W.W., revolutionary socialists and every other Red ... Do not forget that the Fascisti are to Italy what the American Legion is to the United States."[1]

Owsley also invited Mussolini to speak at almost every yearly convention of the Legion during his time at its helm.[citation needed]

[edit] 1930s

By 1931, membership of the American Legion had reached 1 million.

The Sons of the American Legion was formed at the American Legion's 14th National Convention in Portland, Oregon 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 American Legion. In 2007 The Sons of the American Legion celebrates seventy-five years of service to God and Country. The organization has over 300,000 members.

According to congressional testimony in the 1930s, several of the American Legion's leaders, including its original bankroller Irénée du Pont, plotted a fascist coup against the Government of Franklin D. Roosevelt called the Business Plot. According to testimony the plot was averted because Major General Smedley Butler warned Roosevelt of the plan.

In 1935, the first Boys' State convenes in Springfield, Illinois.

The American Legion's first National High School Oratorical Contest was held in 1938.

[edit] 1940s

In 1942, the original charter of the American Legion is changed in order to allow veterans of World War II to join. Throughout the 1940s, the American Legion was very active in providing support for veterans and soldiers who fought in World War II. The American Legion campaigned for the G.I. Bill, which was signed into law in June, 1944.

The American Legion was active in campaigning for the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II in relocation camps. [2] [3]

The first Boys Nation program was held in 1946.

[edit] 1950s

The American Legion asked for a congressional investigation into the ACLU for their petitioning to end loyalty-oath laws for public workers such as school teachers during the red scare. [4]

Veterans of the Korean War were approved for membership in The American Legion in 1950.

The American Legion Child Welfare Foundation is formed in 1954.

[edit] 1970s

In 1976, there was an outbreak of bacterial pneumonia among those attending a convention of the American Legion at The Bellevue Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia. This form of pneumonia became known as Legionnaires' disease, or Legionellosis. The bacterium that causes the illness was later named Legionella.

[edit] 1980s

After a 1989 Supreme Court decision, the American Legion launched and funded a 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 Citizens Flag Alliance. [5]

[edit] 1990s

In a letter to U.S. President Bill Clinton in May of 1999, the American Legion urged the immediate withdrawal of American troops from Operation Allied Force in Yugoslavia. The National Executive Committee of The American 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 and the American people". [6][7]

[edit] 2000s

On August 30, 2005, Thomas P. Cadmus, National Commander, stated in an address to the Legion's National Convention that terrorism should be stopped by "any means necessary." [8] In reaction, the Chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, Steve Buyer (R-Ind.), announced that he planned to eliminate the annual congressional hearings for Veterans Service Organizations that was established by Eisenhower. National Commander of the American Legion Thomas L. Bock had the following to say:

"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." [9]

[edit] Membership eligibility requirements

Any person will be eligible for membership who was a member of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard or Air Force of the United States and assigned to active duty at some time during any of the following periods:

However, with certain exceptions (e.g., one American Legion branch in San Francisco) GBLT ex-service members otherwise eligible, even if honorably discharged, need not apply.[citation needed]


[edit] Organizational structure

[edit] Posts

The Post is the basic unit of the Legion and usually represents a small geographic area such as a single town or part of a county. There are roughly 14,900 posts in the United States. The Post is used for formal business such as meetings and a coordination point for community service projects. Often the Post will host community events such as Bingo, Hunter breakfasts, holiday celebrations, and etc. It is also not uncommon for the Post to contain a bar open during limited hours.

[edit] Departments

The Posts are grouped together into a state level organization known as a Department for the purposes of coordination and administration. There is a total of 55 Departments; one for each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, France, Mexico, and the Philippines. The 3 Departments located overseas are intended to allow active duty military stationed and veterans living overseas to be actively involved with the American Legion similar to as if they were back in the states. The Department of France [10] consists of 29 Posts located in 10 European counties, the Department of Mexico [11] consists of 22 Posts located in Central America, and the Department of Philippines covers Asia and the Pacific Islands.

[edit] National headquarters

The main American Legion Headquarters is located on the Indiana War Memorial Plaza in Indianapolis. It is the primary office for the National Commander and also houses the historical archives, library, Membership affairs, and the Magazine editorial offices. The Legion also owns a building in Washington D.C. that contains many of the operation offices such as Legislative, Veterans Affairs, Media Relations, and etc. [12]

[edit] List of National Commanders

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

[edit] Posts

Virginia Post 25 - Braxton-Perkins

[edit] References in popular culture

John Dos Passos included in his USA Trilogy a detailed description of the Centralia Massacre, written with open hostility to the American Legion and taking the IWW side in this affair.

The 1949 story "The Long Watch", by Science Fiction writer Robert Heinlein, was commissioned by the American Legion and pubished in the Legion's magazine. However, the story was reportedly "heavily edited" before being published - presumably because its theme - a one-man rebellion by a future space officer who sactifices his life to foil an military coup and the use of nuclesar weapons on civilian populations - can be read both as extolling patriotic self-sacrifice and as extolling rebelliousness and disobedience.

On their 1989 album, Key Lime Pie, the alternative rock band Camper Van Beethoven referenced the American Legion in their song "When I Win The Lottery", with the lyrics,

And when I win the lottery, gonna buy the house next to Mr. Red, White and Blue, and when I win the lottery, gonna buy Post 306 American Legion, paint it red with five gold stars.

American Legion Post 306 is the John W. Lupa Post in Middlesex, New Jersey.

In chapter 9 of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, it's revealed that Jay Gatsby was a member of the American Legion.

[edit] References

  1. ^ American Legion, "Capsule History of the American Legion," from the "American Legions Post Officers Guide, Appendix 4," pg. 68 Online Edition. Retrieved on March 6, 2007.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] Further reading

  • Richard Seelye Jones. A history of the American legion (1946)
  • Thomas B. Littlewood. Soldiers Back Home: The American Legion in Illinois, 1919-1939 (2004)
  • William Pencak. For God & Country: The American Legion, 1919-1941 (1989)
  • Thomas A. Rumer. The American Legion: An Official History, 1919-1989 (1990)
  • George Seldes. The George Seldes Reader. Barricade Books, 1994
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