Symbolic icon of American spirit promoted by country of patriots

By Deborah Taylor-Hollis

I recently got the amazing notion that Americans are blessed to always be surrounded with our national symbols. The red, white and blue of our flag--three common colors that frequently appear together--are only now becoming apparent to me.

I made this observation while driving down Lincoln Avenue, watching for the flags. I was seeing them in windows, on antennas, pasted to bumpers, incorporated into the United States Postal Service truck, at the Chevron gas station--everywhere. Just as I said to myself, "It's amazing where the flag turns up" I saw one moving toward Pine Avenue disguised as a designer jogging shirt on a lovely retired lady out for a stroll.

The symbolic icon of this country, whether being worn, flown, burned, restored, rolled, draped or gathering dust standing attention in the back corner of a classroom, has always been instantly recognizable.

That is because the flag has a great public relations department.

Possibly designed by Francis Hopkinson (a New Jersey delegate to the Continental Congress), the flag was first created when George Washington, late in May 1776, asked fellow churchgoer and upholsterer Betsy Ross to make one after she showed him how to cut a five-point star in one snip.

In 1814, another PR guy named Francis Scott Key spent time one frightening night fixated on the only thing he could see from his cell aboard an English frigate. If the flag came down, he would be convicted of treason and possibly face death. If the flag stayed up, he was a free man. He wrote the flag's first jingle, one we still enjoy today, although it wasn't formally adopted as the national anthem until 1931.

Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders perpetuated the flag's fame and myth when they got Eastern newspapers to publish engravings of themselves charging up San Juan Hill and holding aloft the symbol of their righteous indignation. That the event, as depicted, never happened was immaterial to the flag or the paper.

John Philip Sousa, a musical genius of incredibly narrow talents, found a permanent place in history when the Marine Corps put him in charge of its marching band from 1880 to 1892. He composed "Stars and Stripes Forever" on Christmas Day 1896, while contemplating his band manager's death. It is the most well-known of his hundreds of patriotic compositions.

The Pledge of Allegiance, a now universal promise we all recite, was written by Francis Bellamy and published in "The Youth's Companion" in 1892. It had a minor revision--the addition of "under God" in June 1954.

Even as the electronic age approached, the flag and its supporters never faltered.

Red Skelton, American comedian and humanitarian, once did a tribute to how he was taught the pledge of allegiance. Although he has been gone from us for more than a decade, his words will live on the Internet at home.att.net/~poofcatt/july.html.

"Old Glory" (the flag's nickname given in 1831 by Captain Driver of Massachusetts) or "The Stars and Bars" has had many changes, but its basic features are always the same. In 1782, it was recorded permanently that the red bars stand for valor and hardiness, the white bars stand for purity and innocence, and the blue background stands for vigilance, perseverance and justice. Every star stands for a state in the Union, from the original 13, formed in a circle.

According to legend, George Washington interpreted the elements of the flag this way: The stars were taken from the sky, the red from the British colors, and the white stripes signified the secession from the home country.

In 1949, President Truman officially proclaimed each June 14 as Flag Day, to honor our symbol.

The flag has flown at the North Pole since 1909, on Mount Everest since 1963 and, since 1969, she has graced the surface of the moon.

Old Glory has spawned a whole genre of flag worship. The states each took a flag symbol, each branch of the armed services took a symbol, and the tradition continues among groups as diverse as the Gray Panthers (senior citizen activists) and the Leather Community (the leather pride of black, red and blue).

This is driven by the joy of all belonging under one flag, indivisible, with freedom and justice for all.

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You can reach Deb at DTHollis@svcn.com, or get flag facts at www.ushistory.org/betsy/flagfact.html.

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