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N.Y. Schools Drop Straight Arm Salute

October 30, 1940
See Original Daily Bulletin From This Date
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The public schools of New York have stopped using the straight-arm salute to the flag at the request of Dr. Harold G. Campbell, Superintendent of Schools, because of the gesture’s resemblance to Nazi and Fascist salutes, the Board of Education disclosed.

As a result of publicity given to an objection made to the salute by Attorney General John J. Bennett Jr., patriotic groups throughout the country are seeking the abolition of the straight-arm salute which has been used for generations by public school children in pledging allegiance to the flag. The public school children here are now using the ordinary hand-to-forehead military salute at the pledge of allegiance to the flag.

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