H.Doc.108-98 EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS REQUEST FY 2003 ...

	Web GovRecords.org

"I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE
TO THE FLAG OF THE UNITED
STATES OF AMERICA AND TO
THE REPUBLIC FOR WHICH IT
STANDS, ONE NATION UNDER
GOD, INDIVISIBLE, WITH LIBERTY
AND JUSTICE FOR ALL."

108th Congress, 1st Session H.Doc. 108-97

OUR FLAG

JOINT COMMITTEE ON PRINTING

UNITED STATES CONGRESS

Printed by authority of House Concurrent Resolution 139, 108th Congress

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON : 2003

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office
Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512-1800; DC area (202) 512-1800, Fax: (202) 512-2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402-0001

PRINTED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON PRINTING
ROBERT W. NEY, Representative from Ohio, SAXBY CHAMBLISS, Senator from Georgia,
Chairman Vice Chairman
JOHN T. DOOLITTLE, Representative from California THAD COCHRAN, 
Senator from Mississippi
JOHN LINDER, Representative from Georgia GORDON SMITH, Senator from 
Oregon
JOHN B. LARSON, Representative from Connecticut DANIEL K. INOUYE, 
Senator from Hawaii
ROBERT A. BRADY, Representative from Pennsylvania MARK DAYTON, 
Senator from Minnesota
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 139
(Submitted by Mr. Ney)
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
108th Congress, 1st Session
April 7, 2003
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring),
SEC. 3. OUR FLAG
(a) IN GENERAL.-The 2003 revised edition of the publication entitled
"Our Flag" shall be printed as a House document under the direction of
the Joint Committee on Printing.
(b) ADDITIONAL COPIES.-In addition to the usual number, there shall
be printed the lesser of-
(1) 550,000 copies of the document, of which 440,000 copies
shall be for the use of the House of Representatives, 100,000 copies 
shall be for the use of the Senate, and 10,000 copies shall be for the 
use of the Joint Committee on Printing; or (2) such number of copies 
of the document as does not exceed a total production and printing 
cost of $198,108, with distribution to be allocated in the same 
proportion as described in paragraph (1), except that in no case 
shall the number of copies be less than 1 per Member of 
Congress.

Introduction

During the night of September 13, 1814, the British fleet bombarded 
Fort McHenry in the harbor at Baltimore, Maryland. 
Francis Scott Key, a 34-year old lawyer-poet, watched the 
attack from the deck of a British prisoner-exchange ship. He had gone 
to seek the release of a friend but they were refused permission to go 
ashore until after the attack had been made. As the battle ceased on 
the following morning, Key turned his telescope to the fort and saw 
that the American flag was still waving. The sight so inspired him 
that he pulled a letter from his pocket and began to write the poem 
which eventually was adopted as the national anthem of the United 
States-"The Star-Spangled Banner." Key was returned to Baltimore and 
later that day took a room at a Baltimore tavern where he completed 
the poem. Years later, Key told a hometown audience in Frederick, 
Maryland: "I saw the flag of my country waving over a city-the
strength and pride of my native State-a city devoted to plunder
and desolation by its assailants. I witnessed the preparation for
its assaults. I saw the array of its enemies as they advanced to
the attack. I heard the sound of battle; the noise of the conflict
fell upon my listening ear, and told me that 'the brave and the
free' had met the invaders."

The Joint Committee on Printing is pleased to present the latest
edition of Our Flag. This Congressional publication briefly describes 
the history of the flag, and sets forth the practices and observances 
appropriate to its display. The Committee hopes that this document 
will be both useful and informative to its audience. 

Acknowledgement 

The Joint Committee on Printing extends thanks and appreciation to 
the individuals and organizations that contributed their knowledge to 
this booklet.

"Let the praise, then, if any be due, be given, not 
to me, who only did what I could not help doing, 
not to the writer, but to the inspirers of the song!" 
-Francis Scott Key 

The History of the Stars and Stripes 

The Stars and Stripes originated as a result of a resolution 
adopted by the Marine Committee of the Second 
Continental Congress at Philadelphia on June 14, 1777. 
The resolution read: 
"Resolved, that the flag of the United States be thirteen 
stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen 
stars, white in a blue field representing a new constellation." 
The resolution gave no instruction as to how many points the stars 
should have, nor how the stars should be arranged on the blue union. 
Consequently, some flags had stars scattered on the blue field without 
any specific design, some arranged the stars in rows, and some in a 
circle. 
The first Navy Stars and Stripes had the stars arranged in staggered 
formation in alternate rows of threes and twos on a blue field. Other 
Stars and Stripes flags had stars arranged in alternate rows of four, 
five and four. Some stars had six points while others had eight. 
Strong evidence indicates that Francis Hopkinson of New Jersey, a 
signer of the Declaration of Independence, was responsible for the stars 
in the U.S. flag. At the time that the flag resolution was adopted, 
Hopkinson was the Chairman of the Continental Navy Board's Middle 
Department. Hopkinson also helped design other devices for the 
Government including the Great Seal of the United States. For his 
services, Hopkinson submitted a letter to the Continental Admiralty 
Board asking "whether a Quarter Cask of the public Wine will not be a 
proper & reasonable Reward for these Labours of Fancy and a suitable 
Encouragement to future Exertions of a like Nature." His request was 
turned down since the Congress regarded him as a public servant. 

An Early Stars and Stripes

During the Revolutionary War, several patriots made flags for 
our new Nation. Among them were Cornelia Bridges, 
Elizabeth (Betsy) Ross, and Rebecca Young, all of 
Pennsylvania, and John Shaw of Annapolis, Maryland. Although Betsy 
Ross, the best known of these persons, made flags for 50 years, there 
is no proof that she made the first Stars and Stripes. It is known 
that she  made flags for the Pennsylvania State Navy in 1777. The flag 
popularly known as the "Betsy Ross flag," which arranged the stars in 
a circle, did not appear until the early 1790's. 

The claims of Betsy Ross were first brought to the attention of the 
public in 1870 by one of her grandsons, William J. Canby. In a paper 
he read before the meeting of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 
Canby stated: 
"It is not tradition, it is report from the lips of the principal 
participator in the transaction, directly told not to one or two, but 
a dozen or more living witnesses, of which I myself am one, though but 
a little boy when I heard it.... Colonel Ross with Robert Morris and 
General Washington, called on Mrs. Ross and told her they were a 
committee of Congress, and wanted her to make a flag from the drawing, 
a rough one, which, upon her suggestions, was redrawn by General 
Washington in pencil in her back parlor. This was prior to the 
Declaration of Independence. I fix the date to be during Washington's 
visit to Congress from New York in June, 1776 when he came to confer 
upon the affairs of the Army, the flag being no doubt, one of these 
affairs."

The Grand Union Flag

The first flag of the colonists to have any resemblance to the 
present Stars and Stripes was the Grand Union Flag, sometimes 
referred to as the Congress Colors, the First Navy 
Ensign, and the Cambridge Flag. Its design consisted of 13 stripes,
 alternately red and white, representing the Thirteen Colonies, with 
a blue field in the upper left-hand corner bearing the red cross of 
St. George of England with the white cross of St. Andrew of Scotland. 
As the flag of the revolution it was used on many occasions. It was 
first flown by the ships of the Colonial Fleet on the Delaware River. 
On December 3, 1775, it was raised aboard Captain Esek Hopkin's 
flag-ship Alfred by John Paul Jones, then a Navy lieutenant. Later 
the flag was raised on the liberty pole at Prospect Hill, which was 
near George Washington's headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 
It was our unofficial national flag on July 4, 1776, Independence Day; 
and it remained the unofficial national flag and ensign of the Navy 
until June 14, 1777, when the Continental Congress authorized the 
Stars and Stripes. 
Interestingly, the Grand Union Flag also was the standard of the
British East India Company. It was only by degrees that the Union 
Flag of Great Britain was discarded. The final breach between the 
Colonies and Great Britain brought about the removal of the British 
Union from the canton of our striped flag and the substitution of 
stars on a blue field. 

Fifteen Stars and Stripes

When two new States were admitted to the Union (Kentucky 
and Vermont), a resolution was adopted in January of 
1794, expanding the flag to 15 stars and 15 stripes. This 
flag was the official flag of our country from 1795 to 1818, and was 
prominent in many historic events. It inspired Francis Scott Key to 
write "The Star-Spangled Banner" during the bombardment of Fort 
McHenry; it was the first flag to be flown over a fortress of the 
Old World when American Marine and Naval forces raised it above the 
pirate stronghold in Tripoli on April 27, 1805; it was the ensign of 
American forces in the Battle of Lake Erie in September of 1813; and 
it was flown by General Jackson in New Orleans in January of 1815.

However, realizing that the flag would become unwieldy with a 
stripe for each new State, Capt. Samuel C. Reid, USN, suggested to 
Congress that the stripes remain 13 in number to represent the 
Thirteen Colonies, and that a star be added to the blue field for 
each new State coming into the Union. Accordingly, on April 4, 1818, 
President Monroe accepted a bill requiring that the flag of the 
United States have a union of 20 stars, white on a blue field, and 
that upon admission of each new State into the Union one star be 
added to the union of the flag on the fourth of July following its 
date of admission. The 13 alternating red and white stripes would 
remain unchanged. This act succeeded in prescribing the basic design 
of the flag, while assuring that the growth of the Nation would be 
properly symbolized. 

Eventually, the growth of the country resulted in a flag with 48 
stars upon the admission of Arizona and New Mexico in 1912. Alaska 
added a 49th in 1959, and Hawaii a 50th star in 1960. With the 
50-star flag came a new design and arrangement of the stars in the 
union, a requirement met by President Eisenhower in Executive Order 
No. 10834, issued August 21, 1959. To conform with this, a national 
banner with 50 stars became the official flag of the United States. 
The flag was raised for the first time at 12:01 a.m. on July 4, 1960, 
at the Fort McHenry National Monument in Baltimore, Maryland. 

Traditionally a symbol of liberty, the American flag has carried the 
message of freedom to many parts of the world. Sometimes the same 
flag that was flying at a crucial moment in our history has been flown 
again in another place to symbolize continuity in our struggles for 
the cause of liberty. One of the most memorable is the flag that flew 
over the Capitol in Washington on December 7, 1941, when Pearl Harbor 
was attacked. This same flag was raised again on December 8 when war 
was declared on Japan, and three days later at the time of the 
declaration of war against Germany and Italy. President Roosevelt 
called it the "flag of liberation" and carried it with him to the 
Casablanca Conference and on other historic occasions. It flew from 
the mast of the U.S.S. Missouri during the formal Japanese surrender 
on September 2, 1945. 
Another historic flag is the one that flew over Pearl Harbor on 
December 7, 1941. It also was present at the United Nations Charter 
meeting in San Francisco, California, and was used at the Big Three 
Conference at Potsdam, Germany. This same flag flew over the White 
House on August 14, 1945, when the Japanese accepted surrender terms. 
"Old Ironsides" in the War of 1812. Courtesy U.S. Naval Academy 
Museum  Following the War of 1812, a great wave of nationalistic 
spirit spread throughout the country; the infant Republic had 
successfully defied the might of an empire. As this spirit spread, 
the Stars and Stripes became a symbol of sovereignty. The homage 
paid that banner is best expressed by what the gifted men of later 
generations wrote concerning it. The writer Henry Ward Beecher said: 

"A thoughtful mind when it sees a nation's flag, sees not the 
flag, but the nation itself. And whatever may be its symbols, its 
insignia, he reads chiefly in the flag, the government, the 
principles, the truths, the history that belongs to the nation that 
sets it forth. The American flag has been a symbol of Liberty and 
men rejoiced in it.

"The stars upon it were like the bright morning stars of God, and the 
stripes upon it were beams of morning light. As at early dawn the 
stars shine forth even while it grows light, and then as the sun 
advances that light breaks into banks and streaming lines of color, 
the glowing red and intense white striving together, and ribbing the 
horizon with bars effulgent, so, on the American flag, stars and 
beams of many-colored light shine out together ...." In a 1917 Flag 
Day message, President Wilson said:

"This flag, which we honor and under which we serve, is the 
emblem of our unity, our power, our thought and purpose as a 
nation. It has no other character than that which we give it from 
generation to generation. The choices are ours. It floats in majestic 
silence above the hosts that execute those choices, whether in 
peace or in war. And yet, though silent, it speaks to us-speaks to 
us of the past, of the men and women who went before us, and 
of the records they wrote upon it. 

"We celebrate the day of its birth; and from its birth until now 
it has witnessed a great history, has floated on high the symbol of 
great events, of a great plan of life worked out by a great people.... 
"Woe be to the man or group of men that seeks to stand in 
our way in this day of high resolution when every principle we 
hold dearest is to be vindicated and made secure for the salvation 
of the nation. We are ready to plead at the bar of history, and our 
flag shall wear a new luster. Once more we shall make good with 
our lives and fortunes the great faith to which we were born, and 
a new glory shall shine in the face of our people." 

Early American Flags

Archeological digs in northern India, dating around 3,500 B.C., 
have uncovered a seal, used to sign documents. The seal 
shows a procession of seven men carrying square standards, 
held aloft on poles like modern flags. While these ancient flags were 
rigid, like boards, and not made of cloth as modern flags are, they 
provided ample testimony that heraldry and the displaying of banners 
dated to the earliest civilizations.

In American history, the Vikings carried a flag which bore a black 
raven on a field of white. In 1492 Columbus sailed to our shores 
with his three small ships displaying the Spanish flag bearing two 
red lions on two white fields and two yellow castles on two red 
fields. The Dutch brought their own striped flags when they settled 
in New Amsterdam, which we now call New York, and pioneers from 
other nations also brought along the standards of their countries 
when they settled on our shores. It is only natural, therefore, that 
America should create colonial flags as soon as the first colonists 
settled. Given the disparate array of settlers, it is not surprising 
that a wide variety of flags was created. 

The first flags adopted by our colonial forebears were symbolic of 
their struggles with the wilderness of the new land. Beavers, pine 
trees, rattlesnakes, anchors and various other insignia were affixed 
to different banners with mottoes such as "Hope," "Liberty," "Appeal 
to Heaven," or "Don't Tread on Me."

In the early days of the Revolution, there were colonial and 
regimental flags by the score. The Boston Liberty flag, consisting of 
nine alternate red and white horizontal stripes, flew over the 
Liberty Tree, a fine old elm in Hanover Square in Boston, where the 
Sons of Liberty met. Still another was a white flag with a green pine 
tree and the inscription, "An Appeal to Heaven." This particular flag 
became familiar on the seas as the ensign of the cruisers commissioned 
by General Washington, and was noted by many English newspapers of 
the time. 

Flags with a rattlesnake theme also gained increasing prestige with
colonists. The slogan "Don't Tread on Me" almost invariably appeared 
on rattlesnake flags. A flag of this type was the standard of the 
South Carolina Navy. Another, the Gadsden flag, consisted of a yellow 
field with a rattlesnake in a spiral coil, poised to strike, in the 
center. Below the snake was the motto, "Don't Tread on Me." Similar 
was the Culpepper flag, banner of the Minutemen of Culpepper (now 
spelled Culpeper) County, Virginia. It consisted of a white field 
with a rattlesnake in a spiral coil in the center. Above the 
rattlesnake was  the legend "The Culpepper Minute Men" and below, the 
motto, "Liberty or Death" as well as "Don't Tread on Me." 

In December of 1775, an anonymous Philadelphia correspondent
wrote to Bradford's Pennsylvania Journal concerning the symbolic use 
of the snake. He began the letter by saying:

"I recollected that her eye excelled in brightness that of any other 
animal, and that she has no eye-lids. She may, therefore, be esteemed 
an emblem of vigilance. She never begins an attack, nor, when once 
engaged, ever surrenders. She is, therefore, an emblem of magnanimity 
and true courage."

It was probably the deadly bite of the rattler, however, which was 
foremost in the minds of its designers, and the threatening slogan 
"Don't Tread on Me" added further significance to the design. 

The Moultrie flag was the first distinctive American flag displayed 
in the South. It flew over the ramparts of the fort on Sullivan's 
Island, which lies in the channel leading to Charleston, South 
Carolina, when the British fleet attacked on June 28, 1776. The 
British ships bombarded the fort for 10 hours. But the garrison, 
consisting of some 375 regulars and a few militia, under the command 
of Col. William Moultrie, put up such a gallant defense that the 
British were forced to withdraw under cover of darkness. This 
victory saved the southern Colonies from invasion for another two 
years. The flag was blue, as were the uniforms of the men of the 
garrison, and it bore a white crescent in the upper corner next to 
the staff, like the silver crescents the men wore on their caps, 
in-scribed with the words "Liberty or Death."

The Maritime Colony of Rhode Island had its own flag, which was 
carried at Brandywine, Trenton, and Yorktown. It bore an anchor, 
13 stars, and the word "Hope." Its white stars in a blue field are 
believed by many to have influenced the design of our national flag. 
The Army preferred its regimental flags on the battlefield instead 
of the Stars and Stripes. A popular form of the U.S. flag that was 
used in battle had the obverse (front) of the Great Seal in the 
canton. The Army also used the Stars and Stripes with 13 stars in a 
circle. The Stars and Stripes was officially used in Army artillery 
units in 1834, and in infantry units in 1842.

Historical Flags 

FORT MOULTRIE

South Carolinians defending Fort 
Moultrie in Charleston Harbor in 1776 
raised one of the earliest flags of American 
liberty. The blue corresponded to their uniform, 
the silver crescent appeared as a badge 
worn on their caps. The cause for which 
they fought-liberty-was emblazoned on 
the crescent. 

RHODE ISLAND REGIMENT 

The State flags of America found their 
earliest forms during the Revolutionary War. 
The starry canton in the flag of the Rhodeÿ20
Island Regiment symbolized national unity, 
but the white field corresponded to the uniform 
of the State troops. The anchor symbol 
and motto which completed the design had 
been used for more than a century. The original 
flag may be found in the State House in 
Providence. 

BENNINGTON FLAG 

Originally believed to have been carried 
during the Revolution, this flag is now seen as 
having probably been made for the 50th 
anniversary of the Declaration of Independence 
in 1826. Its design is typical of the exuberant 
artistic expressions found in flags of 
the 19th century. 

GREEN MOUNTAIN BOYS 

General John Stark of New Hampshire 
commanded a militia brigade known as the 
"Green Mountain Boys." Tradition relates 
that its green flag was flown at the Battle of 
Bennington on August 16, 1777, As in many 
American flags, the stars here were arranged 
in an arbitrary fashion. Nevertheless they 
signified the unity of the Thirteen Colonies 
in their struggle for independence. 

COMMODORE PERRY'S FLAG

During the War of 1812 Captain James 
Lawrence of the Chesapeake encouraged his 
men, as he lay dying, by exhorting "Don't 
Give Up the Ship." Three months later at 
the Battle of Lake Erie, Commodore Perry 
emblazoned these words on a flag which 
carried him to victory. Similar flags and 
mottoes have inspired Americans throughout 
our two centuries of existence. 

CAVALRY GUIDON

During the Civil War a special version of 
the United States flag-with swallowtail and 
stars of gold instead of white-was carried by 
the cavalry. General Custer and others used 
the flag in succeeding decades in the West. 

The Flag Today

The flag of the United States of America has 13 horizontal 
stripes-7 red and 6 white-the red and white stripes alternating, 
and a union which consists of white stars of 5 points on a blue 
field placed in the upper quarter next to the staff and extending 
to the lower edge of the fourth red stripe from the top. The number 
of stars equals the number of States in the Union. The proportions of 
the flag as prescribed by Executive Order of President Eisenhower on 
August 21, 1959, are as follows:

Hoist (width) of flag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.0 
Fly (length) of flag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.9 
Hoist (width) of union . . . . . . . . . .0.5385 
Fly (length) of union . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0.76 
Width of each stripe . . . . . . . . . . . . .0.769 
Diameter of each star . . . . . . . . . . .0.0616 

Flag Anatomy

Flag Laws and Regulations

The laws relating to the flag of the United States of America are 
found in detail in the United States Code. Title 4, Chapter 1 pertains 
to the flag and seal, seat of Government and the States; Title 18, 
Chapter 33 pertains to crimes and criminal procedures; Title 36, 
Chapter 10 pertains to patriotic customs and observances. These laws 
were supplemented by Executive Orders and Presidential Proclamations. 

Title 36, Chapter 10-PATRIOTIC CUSTOMS
¤171. National anthem; Star-Spangled Banner, conduct during playing 
During rendition of the national anthem when the flag is displayed, 
all present except those in uniform should stand at attention facing 
the flag with the right hand over the heart. Men not in uniform 
should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at 
the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart. Persons in uniform 
should render the military salute at the first note of the anthem and 
retain this position until the last note. When the flag is not 
displayed, those present should face toward the music and act in the 
same manner they would if the flag were displayed there.

¤172. Pledge of Allegiance to the flag; manner of delivery 
The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, "I pledge allegiance to the 
Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which 
it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice 
for all.", should be rendered by standing at attention facing the flag 
with the right hand over the heart. When not in uniform men should 
remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left 
shoulder, the hand being over the heart. Persons in uniform should 
remain silent, face the flag, and render the military salute.

¤173. Display and Use of flag by civilians; codification of rules and 
customs; definition

The following codification of existing rules and customs pertaining 
to the display and use of the flag of the United States of America is 
established for the use of such civilians or civilian groups or 
organizations as may not be required to conform with regulations 
promulgated  by one orÿ20more executive departments of the Government 
of the United States. The flag of the United States for the purpose 
of this chapter shall be defined according to Title 4, United States 
Code, chapter 1, section 1 and section 2 and Executive Order 10834 
issued pursuant thereto. 

¤174. Time and occasions for display 
(a) It is the universal custom to display the flag only from sunrise 
to sunset on buildings and on stationary flagstaffs in the open. 
However, when a patriotic effect is desired, the flag may be displayed 
twenty-four hours a day if properly illuminated during the hours of 
darkness.

(b) The flag should be hoisted briskly and lowered ceremoniously. 
(c) The flag should not be displayed on days when the weather is 
inclement, except when an all weather flag is displayed. 
(d) The flag should be displayed on all days, especially on New 
Year's Day, January 1; Inauguration Day, January 20; Lincoln's 
Birthday, February 12; Washingto's Birthday, third Monday in 
February; Easter Sunday (variable), Mother's Day, second Sunday in 
May; Armed Forces Day, third Saturday in May: Memorial Day (half-
staff until noon), the last Monday in May; Flag Day, June 14; 
Independence Day, July 4; Labor Day, first Monday in September; 
Constitution Day, September 17; Columbus Day, second Monday in 
October; Navy Day, October 27; Veterans Day, November 11; 
Thanksgiving Day, fourth Thursday in November; Christmas Day, 
December 25; and such other days as may be proclaimed by the 
President of the United States; the birthdays of States (date of 
admission); and on State holidays. 


(e) The flag should be displayed 
daily on or near the main administration 
building of every public institution. 

(f) The flag should be displayed in or near every polling place on 
election days.
(g) The flag should be displayed during school days in or near every 
schoolhouse. 
¤175. Position and manner of display 
The flag, when carried in a procession with another flag or flags, 
should be either on the marching right; that is, the flag's own right, 
or, if there is a line of other flags, in front of the center of that 
line. 
(a) The flag should not be displayed on a float in a parade except 
from a staff, or as provided in subsection (i) of this section. 
Over the middle of a street With another flag on crossed staffs 
<<< north or east <<< 
A.M. P.M. On the same halyard with flags of 
Memorial Day states, cities and organizations 
Suspended over a sidewalk 

Flag Illustrations 

At an angle from a building On a speaker's platform 
When unveiling a statue On a wall or monument Draped over a casket 

Flag Illustrations

In a procession
Grouped with flags of other States, With flags of two or more nations 
cities and organizations 
Saluting the flag Proper display of bunting 
(b) The flag should not be draped over the hood, top, sides, or back 
of a vehicle or of a railroad train or a boat. When the flag is 
displayed on a motorcar, the staff shall be fixed firmly to the 
chassis or clamped to the right fender.
(c) No other flag or pennant should be placed above or, if on the 
same level, to the right of the flag of the United States of America, 
except during church services conducted by naval chaplains at sea, 
when the church pennant may be flown above the flag during 
church services for the personnel of the Navy. No person shall display 
the flag of the United Nations or any other national or international 
flag equal, above, or in a position of superior prominence or 
honor to, or in place of, the flag of the United States at any place 
within the United States or any Territory or possession thereof: 
Provided, That nothing in this section shall make unlawful the 
continuance of the practice heretofore followed of displaying the 
flag of the United Nations in a position of superior prominence or 
honor, and other national flags in positions of equal prominence or 
honor, with that of the flag of the United States at the headquarters 
of the United Nations.
(d) The flag of the United States of America, when it is displayed 
with another flag against a wall from crossed staffs, should be on 
the right, the flag's own right, and its staff should be in front of 
the staff of the other flag.
(e) The flag of the United States of America should be at the center 
and at the highest point of the group when a number of flags of 
States or localities or pennants of societies are grouped and displayed 
from staffs.
(f) When flags of States, cities, or localities, or pennants of 
societies  are flown on the same halyard with the flag of the United 
States, the latter should always be at the peak. When the flags are 
flown from adjacent staffs, the flag of the United States should be 
hoisted first and lowered last. No such flag or pennant may be placed 
above the flag of the United States or to the United States flag's 
right. (g) When flags of two or more nations are displayed, they are 
to be flown from separate staffs of the same height. The flags should 
be of approximately equal size. International usage forbids the 
display of the flag of one nation above that of another nation in time 
of peace. 
(h) When the flag of the United States is displayed from a staff 
projecting horizontally or at an angle from the window sill, balcony, 
or front of a building, the union of the flag should be placed at the 
peak of the staff unless the flag is at half staff. When the flag is 
suspended over a sidewalk from a rope extending from a house to a pole 
at the edge of the sidewalk, the flag should be hoisted out, union 
first, from the building.
(i) When displayed either horizontally or vertically against a wall, 
the union should be uppermost and to the flag's own right, that is, 
to the observer's left. When displayed in a window, the flag should 
be displayed in the same way, with the union or blue field to the left 
of the observer in the street.
(j) When the flag is displayed over the middle of the street, it should 
be suspended vertically with the union to the north in an east and 
west street or to the east in a north and south street. 
(k) When used on a speaker's platform, the flag, if displayed flat, 
should be displayed above and behind the speaker. When displayed 
from a staff in a church or public auditorium, the flag of the United 
States of America should hold the position of superior prominence, in 
advance of the audience, and in the position of honor at the 
clergyman's or speaker's right as he faces the audience. Any other 
flag so displayed should be placed on the left of the clergyman or 
speaker or to the right of the audience.
(l) The flag should form a distinctive feature of the ceremony of 
unveiling a statue or monument, but it should never be used as the 
covering for the statue or monument. 
(m) The flag, when flown at half-staff, should be first hoisted to 
the peak for an instant and then lowered to the half-staff position. 
The flag should be again raised to the peak before it is lowered for 
the day. On Memorial Day the flag should be displayed at half-staff 
until noon only, then raised to the top of the staff. By order of 
the President, the flag shall be flown at half-staff upon the death 
of principal figures of the United States Government and the 
Governor of a State, territory, or possession, as a mark of respect 
to their memory. In the event of the death of other officials or 
foreign dignitaries, the flag is to be displayed at half-staff 
according to Presidential instructions or orders, or in accordance 
with recognized customs or practices not inconsistent with law. 
In the event of the death of a present or former official of the 
government of any State, territory, or possession of the United 
States, the Governor of that State, territory, or possession may 
proclaim that the National flag shall be flown at half-staff. The 
flag shall be flown at halfstaff thirty days from the death of the 
President or a former President; ten days from the day of death of 
the Vice President, the Chief Justice or a retired Chief Justice of 
the United States, or the Speaker of the House of Representatives; 
from the day of death until interment of an Associate Justice of 
the Supreme Court, a Secretary of an executive or military department, 
a former Vice President, or the Governor of a State, territory, or 
possession; and on the day of death and the following day for a Member
of Congress. As used in this subsection- 

(1) the term "half-staff" means the position of the flag when it 
is one-half the distance between the top and bottom of the staff; 
(2) the term "executive or military department" means any 
agency listed under sections 101 and 102 of title 5, United States 
Code; and 
(3) the term "Member of Congress" means a Senator, a 
Representative, a Delegate, or the Resident Commissioner from 
Puerto Rico.
(n) When the flag is used to cover a casket, it should be so placed 
that  the union is at the head and over the left shoulder. The flag 
should not be lowered into the grave or allowed to touch the ground. 
(o) When the flag is suspended across a corridor or lobby in a 
building with only one main entrance, it should be suspended 
vertically with the union of the flag to the observer's left upon 
entering. If the building has more than one main entrance, the flag 
should be suspended vertically near the center of the corridor or 
lobby with the union to the north, when entrances are to the east 
and west or to the east when entrances are to the north and south. 
If there are entrances in more than two directions, the union should 
be to the east.
¤176. Respect for the Flag 
No disrespect should be shown to the flag of the United States of 
America; the flag should not be dipped to any person or thing. 
Regimental colors, State flags, and organization or institutional 
flags are to be dippedÿ20as a mark of honor.
(a) The flag should never be displayed with the union down, except 

Other Popular 108th Congressional Documents Documents:

Other Documents:

108th Congressional Documents Records and Documents