5 things most people don't know about their American flag.
Your United States flag has a rich history.
- When Hawaii and Alaska were being considered for statehood, President Dwight D. Eisenhower received more than 1,500 spontaneous design submissions for the new 50-star version of the American flag.
- Amazingly, of the hundreds of designs submitted, at least three were identical to the one that was chosen. Credit for the design was initially given to the United States Army Institute of Heraldry.
- Of the identical proposals, one received more publicity than the others. Robert G. Heft delivered the design as a class project at the age of 17. His story gained publicity because the original score he received for the artwork was a B-. Of course, after his work was adopted in 1960, Robert's teacher experienced a change of heart, and altered his score to an A.
- Fittingly, the place of inspiration for the "Star Spangled Banner," Fort McHenry, in Baltimore, Maryland, was the first to fly both the 49-star American flag and the 50-star American flag. On a side note, Fort McHenry regularly flies a replica of the 15-star, 15-stripe American flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write what would become our national anthem.
- Printed (not dyed) American flags do not contain the correctly specified colors. Why? Because the original Old Glory Red and Old Glory Blue still have not been accurately converted to RGB for screen or CMYK for print.
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Have a great day from your friends at LIBERTY FLAGS, The American Wave®.
