Legion tagline contest shelved

At the beginning of this year, American Legion National Headquarters asked members of the country’s largest veterans service organization for a new tagline, a slogan that could be used in advertising, publications, letterhead, websites and other promotions. More than 5,500 submissions were made in the contest that offered $500 for the winning entry.

The American Legion Internal Affairs Commission reviewed the submissions during the Spring 2013 Meetings in Indianapolis and drafted a resolution to adopt a new tagline. The Resolution Subcommittee, however, returned the resolution for further study as Legion departments and posts across the nation were already drafting their own slogans, mottos and taglines for their five-year membership plans.

The Internal Affairs Commission revisited the tagline contest during the Fall Meetings in Indianapolis and concluded that since departments and posts were already using taglines of their own, the resolution was withdrawn and the contest was called off. The $500 budgeted for the winning submission will be applied to the National Emergency Fund.

The most commonly submitted tagline, which ranked No. 1 by the Internal Affairs Commission, was a familiar one: "For God and Country." Each of the top five submissions were some variation of those four words, which make up the first phrase in the Preamble to The American Legion Constitution and appear on the cover of The American Legion Magazine.