Pinkerton: A Left-Wing City’s Refusal to Honor Veterans Day Reminds Us That Patriotism Must Be Taught

Veterans Day was first known known as Armistice Day. It was established by Congress in 1926, to honor Americans who fought in World War One, which came to a victorious end with the armistice of November 11, 1918. In a White House proclamation, President Calvin Coolidge described the conflict, then known as the Great War, as “the most destructive, sanguinary, and far-reaching war in human annals.”

Yet a few years later came an even greater and more destructive war, World War Two, and soon thereafter, a smaller war in Korea.  So in 1954, Congress renamed Armistice Day, by now a federal holiday, as Veterans Day to honor all veterans who served in peacetime or in wartime.

Later that year, President Dwight D. Eisenhower—himself, of course, a  veteran of legend—issued a statement declaring that the whole nation should honor its vets: “To insure proper and widespread observance of this anniversary, all veterans, all veterans’ organizations, and the entire citizenry will wish to join hands in common purpose.”

Join hands in common purpose. A noble goal for Americans, and yet in these polarized times, that goal might seem to be a little bit aspirational.  Sadly, these days, not everyone is on board with patriotic devotion and ceremony.