The American Legion: A Brief History

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The American Legion was founded March 15-17, 1919, by members of the American Expeditionary Forces still stationed in Europe awaiting passage home from World War I. Their experiences in what was called the “war to end all wars” would shape an enduring legacy for what has become the nation’s largest organization of veterans.

Many of the Legion’s founders had voluntarily drilled in civilian military camps before the United States entered the war. Trained in the “Preparedness Movement,” several future Legion founders were commissioned as officers in the war and discovered firsthand the nation’s deficiencies in defense, citizenship and education. Soon after the war’s end, they also realized how poorly prepared the United States was to assist a wave of disabled and unemployed veterans who faced uncertain futures in their communities, states and the nation.

The American Legion’s emergence and rise to prominence was based on a mission to strengthen the nation through programs, services and advocacy that helped millions throughout the organization’s first century.

The American Legion built its identity with a vision to make the nation prouder, stronger, smarter and more respectful of those who have sacrificed some, or all, in defense of the nation.  Following are some of The American Legion’s achievements during its first century.

VETERANS

• Formed a network of service officers in 1919 that now exceeds 3,000 to help disabled veterans, free of charge, file for government benefits.
• Campaigned to put all veterans services under one federal authority, which led to creation of the VA.
• Assisted millions of veterans in pursuit of rewarding careers; by June 1922 had already placed more than 500,000 veterans in permanent jobs and 200,000 more in temporary positions.

NATIONAL SECURITY

• Lobbied persistently for a better-funded and more efficient national system of defense.
• Called for the establishment of a separate service branch for aeronautics as early as 1919, which helped give birth to the U.S. Air Force in 1947.
• Pushed Congress for “universal military training” for decades, culminating in the Reserve Forces Act of 1955.

AMERICANISM

• Actively promoted responsible U.S. citizenship and patriotic awareness beginning in 1919.
• By January 1920, began providing U.S. citizenship and naturalization programs for immigrants, with support from Congress.
• Led flag conferences in 1923 and 1924 that established the first standard rules for treatment and respect of the U.S. flag, adopted in 1942 as U.S. Flag Code.

CHILDREN & YOUTH

• Launched American Legion Baseball in 1925 to promote citizenship through sportsmanship, a program that would grow to field thousands of teams over the century.
• Developed and operated marksmanship competitions that became the national American Legion Junior Shooting Sports Program in 1991.
• Sponsored thousands of Junior ROTC programs across the country and at American schools overseas.

COMMUNITY SERVICE

• Helped establish state highway patrols, and supported them, as they emerged across the country.
• Established the National Emergency Fund in 1989 to formalize The American Legion’s long program to provide disaster relief.
• Delivered millions of dollars in National Emergency Fund grants for relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina, Wilma and Rita on the Gulf Coast, and the flooding that followed in New Orleans.

HONOR & REMEMBRANCE

• Raised funds and provided marketing support for the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
• Raised more than $3 million for the construction of the National World War II Memorial, dedicated in 2004.
• Served in a leadership role to build the National WWI Memorial in Washington, D.C., dedicated in 2021.