the american pledge of allegiance was adopted in 1942, 166 years after the country was founded. the phrase 'under god' was added 12 years later by president eisenhower, under pressure from the knights of columbus.

during wwii, dwight d. eisenhower visited german extermination camps so that he could see the conditions and the dead firsthand, in case anyone came along later and tried to deny that the holocaust ever happened. what he saw shocked him. he had as many newspaper photographers and writers come as possible to record everything, so that there would be proof, and ordered that citizens from the surrounding towns walk through the camps and bury the dead so that as many people as possible would see that such horrible things had actually happened right on their doorsteps.