POLICIES not partisan politics

The American Legion celebrates its 100th birthday this month. No principle poured into the foundation of the organization has proven more essential to progress in Washington over the last century than Article II, Section 2 of its constitution:

The American Legion shall be absolutely nonpolitical and shall not be used for the dissemination of partisan principles nor for the promotion of the candidacy of any person seeking public office or preferment.

A journey through the decades, narrated by national leaders of different political persuasions and interests, in times of war and peace, illustrates the respect that founding principle has obtained as The American Legion has battled for a strong and well-prepared military, compassionate care for veterans, national pride through Americanism and wholesome development of youth.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT JR.: Writing in the Aug. 8, 1919 American Legion Weekly
First, the organization should be nonpartisan, concerning itself with policies but never with partisan politics. Second, its membership should be composed of service men and women, regardless of whether they served overseas or were unfortunate enough to have their duty keep them in this country. Third, it should be really civilian and in its councils … general and private, admiral and gob, would be treated on the same basis.

Through all of its actions, the doctrine of Americanism stands foremost. By it, the impulses of patriotism generated in the Great War will be crystallized and preserved for the future good of the nation. Its fields of useful activity are bounded only by the desires of its members.

GEN. JOHN PERSHING: Speaking Sept. 20, 1927, at the American Legion National Convention pilgrimage to Paris
No orders from any government could ever create this spirit ... a continuation of this spirit and the desire to preserve and consecrate our war experience led to the formation of the patriotic society of veterans known as The American Legion. It was organized here in France with the sound of battle ringing in our ears. Its purpose, in part, is to cherish the memories of sacrifices in a noble cause, to safeguard the principles of justice, freedom and democracy, to consecrate and sanctify our comradeship and to promote peace and good will on earth. 

SEN. HARRY S. TRUMAN: Speaking March 7, 1938, at George Washington American Legion Post 1, Washington, D.C.
The Congress is considering a plan for industrial mobilization which, I think, has merit. It is proposed to draft industry and labor, in time of emergency, on the same basis as the men who are to be shot at are drafted. It is thought that this would leave no loophole for profiteers, or chance for exploitation by any group or class. This proposal still requires a lot of study to make it effective and workable.

I believe in an adequate national defense program. I think that the old Puritan who prayed regularly for protection against the Indians was much safer when, at the same time, he prudently kept his powder dry. Andrew Jackson, the fighting old President from Tennessee, said, “We shall more certainly preserve peace when it is understood that we are prepared for war.”

The world knows that we can mobilize … that we can and will fight for our rights, in spite of a small and vociferous pacifist group.

The world knows our honorable record … We fought for liberty and honor, just as we always have and just as we always shall, when occasion demands it. I hope we shall never have to fight again, and the best way to keep from it is to be adequately prepared for all contingencies. 

SEN. JOHN F. KENNEDY: Speaking Oct. 16, 1953, in the National Executive Committee room of The American Legion National Headquarters, Indianapolis
One of the articles of the Legion’s oath is “to make right the master of might.” But the Legion has never believed that “right” should march unescorted and unarmed in a difficult and dangerous world and, therefore, since its earliest days, The American Legion has made one of its foremost aims the battle for strong and adequate national defense, and in so doing, it has fought against the successive waves of drift and slide of the last years that have cost us so heavily.

This meeting is therefore, I believe, the proper place in which to argue the need for a defense effort more in keeping with the perils of the time than the one that is at present our national policy.

The American Legion will have many opportunities for important public service in the coming months, but already it is becoming apparent that it may again be in the field of national security that this service will have its most enduring significance.

GEN. GEORGE C. MARSHALL: U.S. Army chief of staff,speaking in Chicago Sept. 18, 1944, to the 26th American Legion Convention 
I have complete confidence in the success of our military efforts, provided we can have steady backing on this side of the oceans until the cessation of hostilities is actually announced.

I am talking very frankly to you veterans of the Legion, because your understanding influence has been of great assistance to me in the past, and the War Department is depending on your help to weather the gales of the final fighting in Germany and the rapid transfer of our military power to the Pacific.

There is also a very special reason why the young armies of this war have a right to your strong support in what is yet to come. They have just delivered from the enemy the cemeteries of your heroic brothers in arms who fell in your war; they have given you back your great war memorials and they have redeemed your battlefields – all of them from Belgium and Le Cateau, through Cantigny, Chateau-Thierry, Soissons and the Marne salient, across the plains north of Rheims to the awful fields of the Meuse-Argonne and St. Mihiel. And mark this, they did it for you in the best American manner, at top speed and within a few days’ time.

Not satisfied with that, they are about to introduce the American art of war into Germany so that any doubts the enemy may have had regarding our military competence or willingness to fight will be dispelled in an unmistakable and final manner.

VICE PRESIDENT RICHARD M. NIXON: Speaking Oct. 18, 1960, to the 42nd American Legion National Convention, Miami
As you have heard over and over again, the battle for the world will be decided probably in the non-military area. It will be decided in the minds and the hearts and the souls of men. It will be decided certainly by what our President and our Vice President and our Secretary of State say in the world councils, but it will be decided in our favor only if a President is able to speak for a nation that is strong, morally and spiritually – and that kind of strength must come from the homes, it must come from the schools, it must come from the churches of America. America must be an example for all the world to see, and that’s why I say you, The American Legion, as leaders of your community, can render tremendous service. 

See that our young people realize what a privilege it is to be a citizen of this country. See that they realize what freedom means. See that they realize certainly that in America we have some other destinies than simply to keep what we have, that America came into the world 180 years ago not just to preserve freedom for ourselves, but we came into the world to extend it to all mankind. That was true then, at the time of the American Revolution. It is even truer today, when America has the power morally, spiritually, economically and militarily to be heard and seen and felt in world councils. But again, that comes back to you. See that the President of the United States can represent a united America. See, for example, in a very difficult field - and I mention it because it is difficult and because the Legion has been very forthright in meeting difficult problems - that we make progress in the difficult area of human rights so that a man like Khrushchev, who has enslaved millions and who slaughtered thousands in the streets of Budapest, cannot again come to this country and point a finger at us and say, “You deny human rights.” 

PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN: Speaking Feb. 29, 1988, at the American Legion Washington Conference
I’ve often said that there is something unique about the American form of patriotism, the kind so gloriously on display here at the Legion. It is not an exclusive attachment; it is not jealous or chauvinistic. It’s the affirmation of man’s deepest desires for the rights and liberties given him by his Creator. American patriotism is, quite simply, the call to freedom, everywhere, for all peoples. And that’s why the American flag is more than a national flag. It has been, throughout our history, the hope and encouragement of freedom-loving peoples everywhere. 

VICE PRESIDENT GERALD R. FORD: Speaking March 6, 1974, after accepting The American Legion’s Distinguished Public Service Award, Washington, D.C.
Going back to the days in the interim between 1920 and 1940, The American Legion was one of the few, if not the only organization, that had the courage and foresight to say that we were pursuing the wrong policies as far as national security was concerned. That was the period or the era when it was common practice and popular policy to slash the military, to scuttle our Navy, to not look far enough in advance to see that the Air Force or the aircraft had a future. It was the period when our manpower strength in the Army and the Navy was cut very substantially.

But The American Legion, despite the tendency in the popular support for reduction of our national security forces, stood strong, shoulder to shoulder, and fought a good fight, and when our problems arose in the late 1930s and culminated in Pearl Harbor, The American Legion was proven right. And The American Legion can look back upon those two decades as a period, in many respects, of its greatest hour.

ARKANSAS GOV. BILL CLINTON: Speaking Aug. 25, 1992, at the 74th American Legion National Convention, Chicago
Just three months before a lot of America’s innocence died, when President Kennedy was assassinated, those warm and hopeful summer days, The American Legion taught me lessons I have tried to live by all my life. Lessons about the greatness of America and the responsibility to stand up for what you believe.

The strength of our people and the durability of our Bill of Rights. The nobility of public service.  That summer (through American Legion Boys State and Boys Nation), I learned from The American Legion that being a citizen involves responsibilities as well as rights – including the responsibility to love your country even enough to right its wrongs; the responsibility to get involved, to make a difference, to serve.

I am not the only American whose life has been made better by your continuing service here at home. From baseball to the Boy Scouts; from keeping veterans hospitals open to keeping kids off drugs; from addressing homelessness to preventing child abuse to instilling a deep sense of patriotism into still another generation of Americans; a grateful nation owes you a debt of gratitude.

Like any adult I have to take full responsibility for the mistakes I’ve made in my life.  But The American Legion deserves a large measure of credit for whatever successes I have enjoyed.  

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE DONALD RUMSFELD: Speaking Aug. 29, 2006, to the 88th American Legion National Convention, Salt Lake City, Utah 
One of the most important things the Legion has done is not only to serve and assist and advocate as you’ve done so superbly for much of the past century – but also to educate and to speak the truth about our country and about the men and women in the military.

That is important in any long struggle or any kind of long war, where any kind of moral and intellectual confusion about who and what is right or wrong can severely weaken the ability of free societies to persevere. I am confident that over time they will evaluate and reflect on what is happening in this struggle and come to wise conclusions about it.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Speaking Aug. 30, 2011, to the 93rd National Convention of The American Legion, Minneapolis
It is wonderful to be back with The American Legion. You know, back in Illinois, my home state, we worked together to make sure veterans across the state were getting the benefits they had earned. When I was in the U.S. Senate, we worked together to spotlight the tragedy of homelessness among veterans and the need to end it. As president, I have welcomed (National Commander) Jimmie (Foster) and your leadership to the Oval Office to hear directly from you. And I have been honored to have you by my side when I signed advance appropriations to protect veterans health care from the budget battles in Washington when I signed legislation to give new support to veterans and their caregivers, and most recently when I proposed new initiatives to make sure the private sector is hiring our talented veterans. So, American Legion, I thank you for your partnership. And I appreciate the opportunity to talk with you about what we need to do to make sure America is taking care of our veterans as well as you have taken care of us.