Bellamy salute

The Bellamy salute is a straightened hand and palm-down salute to the flag of the United States. Created by James B. Upham as the gesture that was to accompany the Pledge of Allegiance of the United States of America, whose text had been written by Francis Bellamy, it was known as the flag salute during the period when it was used, from 1892 to 1942, with the Pledge of Allegiance. Bellamy promoted the salute and thus it was retroactively renamed after him. Later, during the 1920s and 1930s, Italian Fascists and German Nazis in Europe adopted a similar salute that also resembled the Roman salute, a gesture attributed to ancient Rome. The introduction of the Nazi salute resulted in controversy over the use of the Bellamy salute in the United States, especially once the country entered the European theater of World War II after Germany and Italy declared war against the United States. The Bellamy salute was replaced with saluting the flag by placing the right hand over the heart when Congress amended the Flag Code on December 22, 1942. The hand over the heart is still used today.