Did you know Americans used to give a nazi salute to the American flag when saying the Pledge of Allegiance?

why weren't you told? why didn't you ask? people have used that salute since at least the roman empire days.

you want more? the swastika was once used by some us army units in the past. and on boy scout uniforms.

it was a way of distancing ourselves from a terrible agenda. there was a lot of guilt after the red army walked into the first nazi death camp and the dark "secret" was made known to the world.

i can't motivate to go find images for you but look up the german bundt rallies in america in the 30s. shea stadium filled to capacity with americans chanting sieg heil.

That's an easy question to answer: 1). He doesn't salute the flag because civilians typically don't. It is customary for military folk to salute the flag and Obama isn't in the military. Win. 2). He has said the Pledge of Allegiance. In fact, he's probably led the pledge on the floor of the Senate more than once. I think it is pretty sad that you had to get schooled by a McCain supporter on an obvious smear. Better luck next time.

Simply because there is no "Nazi salute". The Nazis pulled

together their symbols and practices from various sources.

There's not a single one ( including the salute and the swastika )

that is Nazi origin. Not even the SS runes. The "Nazi salute"

including the "hail" greeting is Roman origin.

Hail Caesar with a raised arm.

It was changed for the same reasons you don't expect a

swastika on the shoulder patches of a US division. You

wouldn't right? Well. You would be wrong.

The 45th Infantry division used a bright yellow swastika

on a red background for quite some time. Also changed

for rather obvious reasons.

You will find "Nazi symbols" all over the globe without

any kind of nazi relation.

The Roman salute is the right hand held flat, palm down and fingers together, and the right arm raised at an angle of about 45 degrees.

It was used by the Roman Republic, and by armies of the Middle East and South America at various times. It was also the historical civilian salute of the United States, from about 1787 to 1934, known since 1892 as the Bellamy salute.

The Nazi party of Germany adopted the Roman salute from the Italian fascists.

President of the United States Franklin Roosevelt then instituted the hand-over-the heart as the salute to be rendered by civilians during the Pledge of Allegiance and the national anthem in the United States. This was done when Congress officially adopted the Flag Code on June 22, 1942.

Because of its associations with fascism, the Roman salute is now rarely used outside of neo-Nazi groups. There are several exceptions; one is the Republic of China (Taiwan), where the salute is still used during the inaugurations of government officials.

The salute is also still used by some Palestinian militant groups, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the swearing-in oath of the President of Mexico, the Basij militia in Iran, and some Maronite movements in Lebanon.

An you wonder why they changed it? By the way it is not a NAZI salute. It is the action of "Present Arms". This has been done since times immemorial. For example in the times of the Crusades, the bloodthirsty knights roaming around the middle east killing every man, woman and child they could find, when encountered with another knight, they would raise their right arm with no weapon at hand to signify they come in peace in very much way the of the NAZI salute. With time this action was transmuted to the army and other branches. The armed forces present their arms to superiors and in term the superiors will present their arms. Since the flag is the maximum symbol of the country, everyone would present their arms to it while reciting the pledge. Since your good friend Hitler was very particular in that hand gesture, it had to change.

What's more, the pledge of allegiance was written by a Christian socialist. Of course there was nothing actually wrong with the Nazi salute before the Nazis used it. I mean, there are variations of such a salute going back to Roman times.

It is just another thing Hitler ruined, like the swastika and the name Hitler. And of course it isn't taught because it is an embarrassment to the US, and history class glosses over stuff that makes us look bad, this being trivial compared to other failures in the US ignored by our history teachers.

That's messed up, but it is more than likely before the Nazi's made it infamous (hopefully)

Nazi salutes are more accurately identified as American salutes (used in the early Pledge of Allegiance three decades before it was adopted by the National Socialist German Workers Party). It was created and promoted by National Socialists in the USA (e.g. Francis Bellamy & Edward Bellamy). The Bellamys and their cohorts influenced the dogma, symbols and rituals of German National Socialists.

The salute is no difference than placing your hand over your heart. It's just a salute. If I had to guess, it was probably changed after WWII because of a reason that does not need explaining!

Because America has pretty much created the image of anything related to Nazi = bad so being told that we used to do that would just create a whole lot of controversy.

Amazing I thought everyone knew about the American straight arm salute.You do that after WW 2 and Sieg Heil is the only thing that comes to mind.