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Eisenhower Administration Received Over 1,900 Flag Designs Before Selecting 50-Star Version
In 1958 the Eisenhower administration collected more than 1,900 proposals for a new U.S. flag after Alaska and Hawaii were slated for statehood. The Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library preserved the submissions, which ranged from pencil sketches to sewn cloth flags.
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The Eisenhower administration received more than 1,900 designs for a new 50-star flag in 1958 after Alaska and Hawaii moved toward statehood. Dr. Jim Ginther, Supervisory Archivist at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum in Abilene, Kansas, said the submissions reflected widespread public interest in the flag's appearance.
Ginther stated that proposals arrived from adults across the country and from overseas. Some were simple pencil drawings, others were formal draftsman's renderings, and a few were actual cloth flags sewn by hand. The administration responded to every submission with a letter from a senior White House official.
One star was added in January 1959 when Alaska became the 49th state. President Eisenhower chose a design that placed the two new stars in alternating rows of six and five on the blue field, preserving the existing pattern of stripes and the placement of stars.
Ginther noted that the Continental Congress established the flag's basic elements on June 14, 1777, but left the arrangement of stars unspecified, allowing varied interpretations in the submitted designs. The library continues to hold the full collection of proposals.
