The “Red Cross March," played by the Columbia Band is dedicated to Clara Barton. Phillips was longtime Barton and American Red Cross supporter. They met when Philips was in charge of the Washington, D.C. bureau of the Associated Press. He was a former journalist and telegraph operator and the inventor of the “Phillips Code” from which the acronym POTUS [ President of the United States] derives, as well as the common use of two letter abbreviations for states, such as PA for Pennsylvania. Phillips was involved with the Columbia Graphophone Company for 15 years. He also wrote an article on the Barton's work.