---
kind: "section"
citation: "36 U.S.C. § 230102"
title: "36"
title_heading: "Patriotic and National Observances, Ceremonies, and Organizations"
number: "230102"
heading: "Purposes"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/36/230102"
units:
  - "Subtitle II — Patriotic and National Organizations"
  - "Part B — Organizations"
  - "Chapter 2301 — Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States"
---

# §230102. Purposes


The purposes of the [corporation](/usc/36/220501.md?p=b-7) are fraternal, patriotic, historical, charitable, and educational, and are—

- (1) to preserve and strengthen comradeship among its members;
- (2) to assist worthy comrades;
- (3) to perpetuate the memory and history of our dead, and to assist their surviving spouses and orphans;
- (4) to maintain true allegiance to the Government of the United States, and fidelity to its Constitution and laws;
- (5) to foster true patriotism;
- (6) to maintain and extend the institutions of American freedom; and
- (7) to preserve and defend the United States from all enemies.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 105–225, Aug. 12, 1998, 112 Stat. 1481; Pub. L. 107–242, § 2, Oct. 16, 2002, 116 Stat. 1497; Pub. L. 113–199, § 1(b), Dec. 4, 2014, 128 Stat. 2058.)

## Notes

| Historical and Revision Notes |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Revised<br>Section | Source (U.S. Code) | Source (Statutes at Large) |
| 230102 | 36:113. | May 28, 1936, ch. 471, § 3, 49 Stat. 1391. |

### Editorial Notes

### Amendments

2014—Par. (3). Pub. L. 113–199 substituted “surviving spouses” for “widows”.

2002—Pub. L. 107–242 inserted “charitable,” before “and educational,” in introductory provisions.