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Bias

There is a significant amount of criticism targeting the American Legion, not least of which being their overtly conservative political views not pertaining to the military. Many would say this is inappropriate for a congressionally chartered organization like the American Legion. There should at least be some mention. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Wils4581 (talk • contribs) 03:21, 24 May 2009 (UTC)

It can be included if you can find some reliable sourcing for the claims. QueenofBattle (talk) 03:19, 23 June 2009 (UTC)
Absolutely true. The American Legion is largely a right-wing pressure group masquerading as a veterans' organization. As one should expect given its openly-fascist early years. 24.214.230.66 (talk) 17:32, 5 June 2011 (UTC)
Wow - talk about your own bias, why don't you? 155.84.57.253 (talk) 20:25, 16 December 2011 (UTC)
As is now quoted in this very article, the head of American Legion said in 1923 that "the Fascisti are to Italy what the American Legion is to the United States." Mussolini was a guest speaker at American Legion conventions throughout the 20s. And the American Legion was at the heart of the Business Plot to overthrow FDR and establish a fascist dictatorship. This isn't bias, it's facts. 24.214.230.66 (talk) 00:58, 29 June 2012 (UTC)
Nope. Many liberals and progressives supported Benny the Moose, seeing him as a rather heavy-handed force for progress. Not for here, but Ida Tarbell was typical. FDR saw value in some ideas of the Fascisti, and the National Recovery Act was organised in direct imitation of Musso’s corporatist policies.

But, FDR, like Tarbell, and most Legionnaires, were democrats. For a contemporary look at the Legion’s image in popular culture in the Thirties, see the Warner Bros. 1939/40 flick, “Confessions of a Nazi Spy”. There is a dramatisation of a real incident at a meeting of the fascist German-American Bund. Some Legionnaires are disturbed by the Bund’s plan to streamline the US government by getting rid of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and one shouts “We don’t want any isms in this country except Americanism!”. Bundists try to beat them up, S.A.-style; another shouts “You guys are worse than gangsters!”. Some discussion of this incident would improve the article (I think the vets involved were Jewish). Smedley Butler and his supposed exposure of a Fascist plot are for another place. But where on earth did you get that information about Mussolini addressing Legion posts in the USA?? His son, Vittorio did visit in 1937, but don’t know of any interest in the Legion. 2A00:23C3:E284:900:D149:6219:5F19:2E4B (talk) 22:39, 19 April 2020 (UTC)

The sentence about the Legion being a voice in current Conservative politics has been deleted. It wasn't supported with sourcing at all. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.162.124.66 (talk) 12:48, 18 October 2012 (UTC)
Additionally no mention is made of their agreement to inform for the FBI on those who were seen as left leaning. (Potential sources: Original, JSTOR)--2602:306:326F:9C50:221:6AFF:FE53:D3EA (talk) 20:31, 22 June 2017 (UTC)

‘Left leaning’ is a polite way of putting it. They weren’t interested in Norman Thomas or Bob La Follette, you know. 2A00:23C3:E284:900:D149:6219:5F19:2E4B (talk) 22:47, 19 April 2020 (UTC)

the possibility of receiving pension benefits for veterans of cuba and viet nam

examine the possibility of receiving some economic pension benefits for veterans of cuba and vietnam ? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 166.250.64.187 (talk) 17:08, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

Pro-Legion Bias

This article does not comply with WP:NPOV criteria as it whitewashes the Legion's history as a right-wing fascist organization. While the Centralia Massacre is rightly included, as is Legion's support for Mussolini, the Legion is repeatedly referred to as "non-political" or "non-partisan" despite its founding purpose to fight leftism (the first paramilitary assault on leftists occurred literally the day after the Legion's founding). I recognize that I don't possess a neutral view, but this article needs serious attention from someone who does. It's fine if you like the Legion or don't believe the organization today reflects its history, but you can't just ignore it. 71.231.28.37 (talk) 21:39, 14 March 2014 (UTC)

I agree with the above sentiment, but it will take some time and effort to make the necessary additions and changes, and then you have to get WP:Consensus on them. Unfortunately, we all have our priorities . . . GeorgeLouis (talk) 15:38, 9 June 2014 (UTC)

I do not, you may recall support for investigating the German-American Bund in the late thirties, as well as dropping Mussolini ( along with many Progressives) as his regime went on. Fighting ‘leftism’ is not the same as fascism - except, maybe to those people who think all opposition to them is fascism.

What would be useful is a short account of the Legion’s evolving approach to ‘Americanism’, sourced with citations from its publications. 2A00:23C5:E08D:8A00:CC37:31DF:80A8:6463 (talk) 03:32, 2 March 2020 (UTC)

1915 American Legion

There was an earlier American Legion founded 1915 in New York out of Adventure (magazine). It shared some of the same officers, including Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. Certainly, it inspired the 1919 organisation. It should be mentioned in the history.

> The directors and officers were: President, Alexander M. White, Vice Presidents, E. Ormonde Power, Julien T. Davies, Jr., Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., Arthur S. Hoffman, Secretary, Dr. John E. Hausmann, Treasurer, Henry Rogers Winthrop. ... On April 6, 1917, when war was declared, the Legion’s work was done. We had secured 23,000 members.

See http://www.philsp.com/articles/magazines/adventure.html search for 'american legion'

matt me (talk) 13:19, 25 July 2014 (UTC)

Centralia Massacre

The article's section about the Centralia Massacre is flagrantly biased to the IWW's side, ignoring evidence contrary to what it says that can be found in Misplaced Pages's page on the Centralia Massacre itself. The author used a single, very biased source ("The Centralia Tragedy of 1919") to cite his section. I have added a POV dispute tag to the section.

Probably because the American Legion were so overtly the aggressors and the IWW the victims. It's not that the article is biased, it's that the historical facts show the Legion in a negative light. — Red XIV 03:21, 29 August 2017 (UTC)

How about a link to the Legion’s own account? All their magazines are available on their website, from issue one; quite a resource.

The article you are looking for is “Unwept, Unhonored, and Unhung”. 2A00:23C3:E284:900:D149:6219:5F19:2E4B (talk) 22:50, 19 April 2020 (UTC)

The American Legion official emblem

File:AmerLegion color Emblem.jpg

The image above should be converted to SVG. 2601:8C:4102:1210:A52A:E39C:B61E:3420 (talk) 04:56, 16 November 2017 (UTC)

Converted, uploaded, replaced! — Sarge (talk) 16:09, 27 November 2019 (UTC)

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First American Legion post in the US?

There are two paragraphs that talk about the "first" American Legion post in the US. One is in Washington, DC, and one is in Wyoming. I found a reference in Google Books that says it was chartered in June of 1919, which is the month after the DC one was chartered. Judging by the sign at the site of the Wyoming post, however, there are multiple posts that say they were the first. So I thought I'd bring it up here, rather than changing it.

  1. "The first post of The American Legion, General John Joseph Pershing Post Number 1 in Washington, D.C., was organized on March 7, 1919, and obtained the first charter issued to any post of the Legion on May 19, 1919. The St. Louis caucus that same year decided that Legion posts should not be named after living persons, and the first post changed its name to George Washington Post 1. The post completed the constitution and made plans for a permanent organization. It set up temporary headquarters in New York City and began its relief, employment, and Americanism programs."
  2. "The site of Ferdinand Branstetter Post No. 1 of The American Legion is a vacant lot in Van Tassell, Wyoming, where the first American Legion post in the United States was established in 1919. The post was named after Ferdinand Branstetter, a Van Tassell resident who died in World War I. The structure housing the post has since been demolished. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969. In 1969, it was hoped that an interpretative sign would be put up, and also possibly that a restored post building would be constructed."

Tericee (talk) 01:18, 13 April 2018 (UTC)


What *is* the first Legion post?

Besides the above there is Post 01 in London, and Post 01 in Paris, each with its own webpage. Does each jurisdiction have its own numbering system, or what? Some clarity needed. 2A00:23C3:E284:900:C9A3:49FB:A4AE:D68D (talk) 21:00, 24 June 2020 (UTC)

Massive amount of article deleted in 2019 called "clean up" with no disussion

What the heck happened here, https://en.wikipedia.org/search/?title=American_Legion&diff=910429207&oldid=910416562 this removed all historical context from the article under the guise of "clean up". Including the centralia massacre. Seems really biased.97.83.133.136 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 18:40, 28 October 2020 (UTC)

It got buried in the History of the American Legion sub-article so that the main article no longer includes any mention of the Legion's violent, fascist history. — Red XIV 01:16, 27 January 2021 (UTC)
It hasn’t got a fascist history, so that is only right.
Still at it? The war is over, and you people lost. 213.205.240.149 (talk) 17:57, 23 April 2021 (UTC)
That said, this article really should have a summary of the history, important given some of the controversial elements of it. Magic♪piano 21:20, 27 January 2021 (UTC)
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