Apparently the standard little-kid way we’re taught to salue the flag—right hand over heart—was not the original style (and unless you’re a getting-to-salute-it-military-style scout).
Doing a little research i stumbled onto West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943), where the Court said one couldn’t force schoolkids into saluting the american flag if they objected on religious grounds. The interesting part is when justice jackson notes:
The resolution originally required the ‘commonly accepted salute to the Flag’ which it defined. Objections to the salute as ‘being too much like Hitler’s’ were raised by the Parent and Teachers Association, the Boy and Girl Scouts, the Red Cross, and the Federation of Women’s Clubs. Some modification appears to have been made in deference to these objections, but no concession was made to Jehovah’s Witnesses [who were protesting the salute in general]. What is now required is the ‘stiff-arm’ salute, the saluter to keep the right hand raised with palm turned up while the following is repeated: ‘I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands; one Nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.’
id. at 627-29. There were three noteworthy things to me: first, of course there’s no “god” in the pledge. Secondly, i didn’t know we were already so anti-fascist in 1942 (when the salute was adopted). What that tells you is how we used to salute—just like zee germans. Lastly, there’s the weird way we were supposed to salute—like an upside-down nazi thing. odd, but similar to a “praising” style motion. i only found one image on the web that depicted it, and it’s only a drawing, but the page itself has some interesting history.
Errata: a google search for “big gray” turned up our favorite blog as its fifth and sixth hits. “reciprocity failure” was a safe 24th. “communists in the summer house” crashed onto the top spot, as did yours truly, at one and two.