The National American Legion Brief History
A group of twenty officers who served in the American Expeditionary Forces (A.E.F.) in France in
World War I is credited with planning the Legion. A.E.F. Headquarters asked these officers to
suggest ideas on how to improve troop morale. One officer, Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.,
proposed an organization of veterans. In February, 1919, this group formed a temporary committee,
and selected several hundred officers who had the confidence and respect of the whole army.
Then the first organization meeting took place in Paris in March, 1919, about 1000 officers and enlisted men attended. The meeting, known as the Paris Caucus, adopted a temporary constitution and the name "The American Legion." It also elected an executive committee to complete the organization work. It considered each soldier of the A.E.F. a member of the Legion. The executive committee named a subcommittee to organize veterans at home in the U.S.
The Legion held a second organizing caucus in St. Louis, MO in May, 1919. It completed the constitution and made plans for a permanent organization. It set up temporary headquarters in NY,NY and began its relief, employment and Americanism programs.
The American Legion was chartered by Congress in 1919 as a patriotic, mutual-help war-time veteran’s organization. The American Legion is a community-service organization which now numbers nearly 3 million members – men and woman – nearly 15,000 American Legion Posts worldwide. These posts are organized into 55 Departments – one each for the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, France, Mexico and the Philippines. Our local Post 13 was founded in 1919. See history on left hand navigation bar.
THE AMERICAN LEGION NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS
The American Legion’s national headquarters
is in Indianapolis, Indiana, (see photo left) with
additional offices in Washington, DC. In addition thousands of volunteers
serving in leadership and program implementation capacities in local communities to the Legion’s
standing national commissions and committees, the national organization has a regular full-time staff
of about 300 employees.
National Headquarters Indianapolis Office
700 North Pennsylvania St.
P.O. Box 1055
Indianapolis, IN 46206
Telephone: 317/630-1200
Fax: 317/630-1223
Preamble to the Constitution of The American Legion
For God and Country
We associate ourselves together for the following purposes:
- To uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America
- To maintain law and order
- To foster and perpetuate a one hundred percent Americanism
- To preserve the memories and incidents of our associations in the Great Wars
- To inculcate a sense of individual obligation to the community, state and nation
- To combat the autocracy of both the classes and the masses
- To make right the master of might
- To promote peace and goodwill on earth
- To safeguard and transmit to posterity the principles of justice, freedom and democracy
- To consecrate and sanctify our comradeship by our devotion to mutual helpfulness