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• Myth #2. The red, white and blue colors symbolize American sacrifice.
• No federal law, resolution or executive order exists providing an official reason for the flag's colors -- or their meaning. The closest thing to an explanation are the words of Charles Thomson, the secretary of the Continental Congress, who was instrumental in the design of the Great Seal of the United States.
• Thomson's report to Congress on June 20, 1782, the day the seal was approved, contained a description of the colors, the same as those in the flag: "White signifies purity and innocence. Red hardiness and valour and Blue ... signifies vigilance, perseverance and justice."
• Various official documents and proclamations -- including one by President Ronald Reagan marking 1986 as the "Year of the Flag" -- have echoed that reasoning.
• But the colors do not have, nor have they ever had, any official imprimatur. Historians believe that the use of red, white and blue in the Stars and Stripes has to do with the simple fact that they were the colors of the first flag of the American colonies, the Continental Colors. And there is little doubt where the red, white and blue of the Continental Colors came from: the Union Jack of the United Kingdom.
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• Myth #3: The Pledge of Allegiance has long been recited in Congress and other governmental bodies.
• The pledge was written by magazine editor Francis Bellamy in 1892 for a nationwide public school celebration of the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's landing. In 1898, during the Spanish-American War, New York became the first state to mandate that public school students recite the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of each school day. Many states followed suit, and the pledge remained a staple of the daily routine in many schools until 1988, when it became an issue in the presidential campaign.
• Vice President George H.W. Bush criticized his opponent, Democrat Michael Dukakis, for vetoing a bill as governor of Massachusetts that would have required the pledge to be recited in public schools. Dukakis said he did so after being advised that the law was unconstitutional.
• At the height of the campaign, on Sept. 13, 1988, the pledge was recited on the floor of the House of Representatives for the first time. Republican members of the House, who were in the minority, offered a resolution to that effect, and it was accepted by Speaker Jim Wright, a Democrat. Wright ruled that from then on, the pledge would be recited at the start of business each day that the House was in session.
• The Senate did not begin daily recital of the pledge until June 24, 1999. Since

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