The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) supports Dr. Rex Curry's discovery that 
the Nazi salute originated in the United States. Dr. Curry showed that the 
USA's early Pledge of Allegiance (to the flag) used a straight-arm salute 
and it was the source of the salute of the monstrous National Socialist 
German Workers' Party (Nazis). The salute of German Socialists has sometimes 
been labeled an "ancient Roman salute."  Dr. Curry helped to establish that 
it was not an ancient Roman salute, and that the "ancient Roman salute" is a 
modern myth. http://rexcurry.net/book1a1contents-pledge.html

The earliest OED reference to "Roman salute" is a 1959 reference to the 
Chambers's Encyclopedia. The OED states: "Chambers's Encycl. XII. 173/2 
Special forms of salute, the clenched fist salute of the Communists, the 
'Roman salute' of the Fascists and the Hitler salute, have been a feature of 
modern political life."

The Chambers Encyclopedia puts the Roman reference in quotation marks, as if 
to indicate that it is the "so-called" Roman salute and that the phrase is 
not historically accurate.  The Chambers Encyclopedia thus supports Dr. 
Curry's discoveries.

An earlier OED reference exists for "raised-arm salute" in a 1943 reference 
to a David Gascoyne poem. The poem states, "...the centurions wear 
riding-boots, Black shirts and badges and peaked caps, Greet one another 
with raised-arm salutes...."   Gascoyne did not use the term "Roman salute," 
and that may suggest that the gesture was not widely known by that name at 
that time.  Gascoyne's poem shows how the Roman salute myth spread. 
Gascoyne was a surrealist and his poem mixes images from a Roman crucifixion 
with images under the National Socialist German Workers' Party.  Gascoyne 
had joined the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1936 and broadcast some 
radio talks for the Barcelona-based propaganda ministry. However, he soon 
became disillusioned and left the party.

Dr. Curry knows of two other uses of "Roman salute" that pre-date the OED 
reference.  The earliest of the two uses is 1937, and the other is 1938, and 
the references are by different authors.

Even the author of the Pledge of Allegiance, Francis Bellamy, specifically 
described how he created the salute and he did not base it on any Roman 
salute myth. Bellamy never used the term "Roman salute" in his life, and he 
did not even know of such a myth as the myth did not exist at that time, as 
shown by Dr. Curry.  The myth developed from the Pledge. The OED also 
supports those facts.

The original Pledge of Allegiance began with a military salute that then 
stretched out toward the flag. Historic photographs are at 
http://rexcurry.net/pledge2.html and at 
http://rexcurry.net/pledge_military.html   In actual use, the second part of 
the gesture was performed with a straight arm and palm down by children 
extending the military salute while perfunctorily performing the forced 
ritual chanting.  Professor Curry showed that, due to the way that both 
gestures were used sequentially in the pledge, the military salute led to 
the hard, stylized salute of German socialists. The Nazi salute is an 
extended military salute via the pledge. 
http://rexcurry.net/book1a1contents-pledge.html

Francis Bellamy (author of the "Pledge of Allegiance") and Edward Bellamy 
(author of the novel "Looking Backward") and Charles Bellamy (author of "A 
Moment of Madness") and Frederick Bellamy (who introduced Edward to 
socialistic "Fourierism") were socialists.  Edward, Charles and Frederick 
were brothers, and Francis was their cousin. Francis and Edward were both 
self-proclaimed National Socialists and they supported the "Nationalism" 
movement in the USA, the "Nationalist" magazine, and the "Nationalist 
Educational Association." They wanted all of society to ape the military and 
they touted "military socialism" and the "industrial army."  Edward inspired 
the "Nationalist Party" (in the USA) and their dogma influenced socialists 
worldwide (including Germany) via "Nationalist Clubs." 
http://rexcurry.net/bellamy-edward-german-connections.html  The Pledge was 
the origin of the Nazi salute. "Nazi" means "National Socialist German 
Workers' Party." A mnemonic device is the swastika. Although the swastika 
was an ancient symbol, Professor Curry discovered that it was also used 
sometimes by German National Socialists to represent "S" letters for their 
"socialism."  Curry changed the way that people view the symbol of the 
horrid National Socialist German Workers' Party. Hitler altered his own 
signature to use the same stylized "S" letter for "socialist" and similar 
alphabetic symbolism still shows on Volkswagens. 
http://rexcurry.net/book1a1contents-swastika.html

The Roman salute myth is still repeated in modern efforts to cover-up Dr. 
Curry's discoveries about the Pledge's poisonous pedigree.