American Legion

American Legion. The American Legion, an organization open to all military war‐time veterans, was founded in 1919 by a handful of World War I officers, including Theodore Roosevelt Jr. Within a year, the organization boasted 840,000 former officers and enlisted men—mostly middle‐class whites—and was well on its way to becoming a highly influential association. Espousing a rhetoric of love of country and duty to uphold the nation's principles, it became a nationalistic defender of “100 percent Americanism.” During the 1919–1921 Red Scare, Legionnaires promised to be “the greatest bulwark against Bolshevism and anarchy.” Legion posts throughout the country helped to institute loyalty oaths for teachers and prevented individuals whom they viewed as radicals from speaking in their local communities, sometimes by running the offender out of town.

The Legion pursued its mission as the self‐proclaimed protector of American “Justice, Freedom, and Democracy” throughout the twentieth century. During World War II, Legionnaires were active in organizing local civil defense. In addition, the Legion became officially associated with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, assisting government agents in investigating enemy aliens. At war's end, an infusion of new veterans swelled the membership roster to 3.5 million. In keeping with their anticommunist stance, Legionnaires during the Cold War adamantly insisted upon the need to roust “subversives” from government service and other positions of authority, and it vehemently supported the U.S. anti‐Soviet foreign policy.

In addition to promoting nationalistic patriotism, the Legion has been one of the most powerful lobbying agencies in the nation's history. It was instrumental in the establishment in 1921 of the Veterans Bureau, the predecessor of the Veterans Administration. The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, the so‐called G.I. Bill of Rights, the government's generous package of benefits to veterans, was drafted by former Legion Commander Harry W. Colmery and vigorously supported by Legion lobbyists. In 1999, the American Legion had nearly three million members in almost fifteen thousand posts worldwide.
See also Anticommunism; Twenties, The.

Bibliography

William Pencak , For God and Country: The American Legion, 1919–1941, 1989.

Lynn Dumenil