Francis Bellamy (1855–1931), a socialist priest, wrote the Pledge of Allegiance in August 1892. In reaction to the Communist menace of the period, President Eisenhower pushed Congress in 1954 to add the words "under God," resulting in the 31-word promise we use today. According to one account, when Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels was attending a meeting of the National Security League in April 1898, he became annoyed by the opening prayer which included the phrase "one nation under God." So he ordered that the phrase be removed from all government documents and papers. This may have been the origin story told by John W. Davis (1862–1927), who went on to become a Supreme Court justice. But it's not true. The first reference to this idea is found in a book written by George M. Curtis (1837–1921) about his experiences as the secretary of the Pennsylvania Senate. In this book, he says President William McKinley asked that the phrase be removed from all official documents because it wasn't Americanism and could be misinterpreted by foreign nations. There are other stories about how the pledge came to be said. For example, some say it was invented by Colonel Edward D. House (1838–1922), who served as president of Cornell University from 1884 to 1900.