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The American flag is very familiar, but did you know that the design could be something you would not see?
Back in 1958, as two new states were being admitted to the union across the country, the Eisenhower administration was flooded with various designs for a new 50-star flag.
“People started sending ideas about what the new flag should look like,” said Dr. Jim Ginther, Supervisory Archivist of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum in Abilene, Kansas, has preserved all submissions since then.
“Suddenly there was a lot of public interest in flag design as well. Beginning in July 1958, the White House began receiving designs from the public, as did the Quartermaster Corps of the Army, from all over the country and around the world.”
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A proposed design for the 50-star American flag from 1958 is on display at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, one of more than 1,900 submitted to the White House before the official flag was adopted. (Fox Nation)
The story of the 50-star flag is told in the first episode of the new series, “A Mad American History with Eric Shawn,” now airing on Fox Nation.
One star was added to the flag in January 1959 when Alaska joined the union as the 49th state.
The 50th star was added with Hawaii's admission as a state, and that new flag was officially raised for the first time on July 4, 1960, at Fort McHenry, Baltimore, the site of the War of 1812 bombardment that inspired Francis Scott Key to write “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
But two years before President Eisenhower settled on the new Stars and Stripes design, flag fever swept the nation.
The White House ended up receiving more than 1,900 designs, many from school children as part of their lessons from the class book “My Weekly Reader.”
Adults from all over the country, even overseas, sent in their suggestions.
A proposed 50-star US flag depicting a starburst is on display at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library. It was one of more than 1,900 designs submitted to the White House before the official 50-star flag was adopted. (Fox Nation)
“Some of them are as simple as pencil drawings, some of them are as beautiful as a Draftsman's drawing. Some of them are sewn flags made of fabric. Some of them are crayon drawings,” Ginther noted.
The Eisenhower administration used this opportunity to educate the American people about the flag and responded to every post with a letter from the White House chief of staff.
“There are many books issued by the government about the history of the flag, about the behavior of the flag, about various other aspects of using the flag that they started sending to the public, and these books thanking it for their suggestions to educate the public about the flag.”
The Continental Congress established the flag on June 14, 1777, which is now considered Flag Day.
Betsy Ross is credited with designing the first flag, with 13 stars in a circle for the original 13 colonies.
The guidelines call for a design of alternating red and white stripes with a blue field of stars.
American flag design with small stars forming a large star. (Fox Nation)
But Ginther noted that the way the stars were to be placed was not specified, which meant that some of the designs could appear curious and imposing.
But the big change, it was not to be.
“The flag is a symbol,” Ginther said.
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“A big change in it will be difficult. People are used to that symbol. It comes out of conversations about flags, in documents,” he said. “To completely change the flag will be very expensive, so we have to consider that. And then you have to consider that especially, our soldiers, they have a sensitive interest, that they fought and bled under that flag.”
“There is a reason, perhaps, why you might not want a big change, even though many people in the country were interested in submitting designs. There is also an argument to be made about not being too stubborn in rebuilding the flag as a national symbol.”
In the end, President Eisenhower chose the same design as the historical tradition, adding two stars to the alternating lines of six and five stars, in the blue that has been familiar since then.
American flag design with one large star over smaller stars. (Fox Nation)
A flag that represents our freedom and American ideals on our 250th birthday.
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Watch “The Fifty-Star Flag,” the first episode of Fox Nation's new series “Crazy American History” to learn more about President Eisenhower and the flag.
The Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum and Boyhood Home website tells more about the flag and the president:
