June 14
FLAG DAY
“Resolved that the flag of the thirteen United States shall be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white on a blue field, representing a new constellation,” said John Adams on this day in 1777 at a meeting of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, PA. And so, the first Flag Day was celebrated in the United States of America. Proclamation 1335, May 30, 1916, made it possible for every President to issue a proclamation that June 14 would be celebrated as Flag Day. Pennsylvania is the only state to celebrate June 14 as a legal holiday, proclamation or not, although the proclamation has been issued annually since 1949.
At 7 p.m. E.D.T., across the United States, the President leads the country in a pause to pledge allegiance, a time to honor America. The national ceremony is held at Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine, and was conceived as a way for all citizens to share a patriotic moment.
We salute the star-bangled banner (now with 50 white stars on a blue field) on this Flag Day.
Those Were the Days, the Today in History service from 440 International
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