Pastor who helped get 'God' in U.S. pledge dies

President Eisenhower heard his allegiance sermon in 1952

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updated 2:33 p.m. ET Nov. 29, 2008

ALEXANDRIA, Pa. - The clergyman credited with helping to push Congress to insert the phrase "under God" into the Pledge of Allegiance died in Alexandria, Pa., a church official said.

The Rev. George M. Docherty was 97.

Nancy Taylor, historian for the Huntingdon Presbyterian Church, said Docherty died on Thanksgiving at his home in Alexandria, with his wife, Sue, by his side.

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Docherty delivered a sermon saying the pledge should acknowledge God in 1952 at Washington's New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, just blocks from the White House.

On Feb. 7, 1954, he delivered it again after learning that President Dwight Eisenhower would be at the church.

Congress inserted the words a few months later.