Celebrating 50 Years – 50 Stars on 7/4/2010
On July 4th 2010, the 50 Star United States flag officially celebrates its 50th year of flying proudly over the United States of America.
As you know, the State of Hawaii became the 50th state on August 21st, 1959 and following the United States Code Title 4, Chapter 1 pertaining to the flag, a fiftieth star was added on July 4th, 1960.
Back in 2007 the 50 star U.S. flag became the longest continually used official version of the U.S. flag and as of July 4th, 2010, celebrates its 50th year!
When Alaska and Hawaii were being considered for statehood back in the 1950s, more than 1,500 flag designs were “spontaneously” sent to President Eisenhower. A few of these designs had 49 stars, however, the majority were 50-star proposals. Interestingly, at least 3 designs, and some claim more, were identical to the current design of our U.S. Flag.
Of all of these proposals, a flag design created by the (at the time) 17-year old Robert G. Heft in 1958 received the most publicity. Mr. Heft turned a history class project into a history making event, when he designed America’s newest national flag which began official usage on July 4th, 1960.
Bob Heft holds his original 50-star flag.
Mr. Heft’s mother worked as a seamstress, but refused to do any of the work for him. Mr. Heft ended up only receiving a B- grade for this history class project. After discussing the grade with his teacher, it was somewhat jokingly agreed that if the flag were to be accepted by Congress, the grade would be reassessed.
Mr. Heft’s flag design was eventually chosen and adopted by presidential proclamation after Alaska and before Hawaii were admitted into the union
Following his 50-star banner design, Mr. Heft became concerned that a fifty-first star might be required, so he also made a 51 star flag having alternating rows of nine and eight stars, 9-8-9-8-9-8 equaling 51 bright and shining stars.
The original flag that made Heft famous 5 decades ago is faded now after having traveled to many, many places, a good 2.5 million miles, flying over all 50 states, 131 American embassies and hundreds of historical locations around the world.
This historic 50 Years – 50 Stars, collectors edition commemorative flag set has been made available for a limited time by Colonial Flag – America’s Flag Store. Online as well as our Showroom!
50 Years - 50 Stars Commemorative Flag certificate.
This exclusive set includes the highest quality, beautifully sewn U.S. flag currently made in the U.S.A as well as a commemorative stamp on the flag header, an official certificate with the history of the flag and little known facts regarding the 50 Star U.S. flag.