Robert G Heft of Michigan designed the current 50-star American flag in 1958 as part of a school project. Did you know he initially got a B grade for it from his teacher? It was subsequently changed to an A when it got selected by President Dwight D. Eisenhower from over 1.500 designs presented.
Heft spent more than 12 hours cutting 50 white stars from iron-on material, adhering the stars to a piece of blue cloth and sewing the new field of stars to his parents’ 48-star American flag. He cleverly arranged the 50 stars into a field that included five rows of six stars and four rows of five stars. Heft was given a chance to improve his grade if he convinced the U.S. government to use his flag. The odds were heavily stacked against him, but Heft was on a mission. He began writing letters and making calls to the White House, asking the president to look at his flag. Two years later, after Alaska and Hawaii became states, Heft received a surprise call from President Dwight D. Eisenhower with the news he was waiting for. His flag was chosen as the model for the new 50-star flag. On July 4, 1960, President Eisenhower invited Heft to Washington, D.C., for a flag raising ceremony at the U.S. Capitol. Since then, Heft’s banner has set a new record as the longest-tenured U.S. flag.
Heft went to work as a professor at Northwest State Community College in Archbold, Ohio and served as mayor of Napoleon, Ohio. He also became a highly regarded motivational speaker and he visited the White House 14 times. Always one to think ahead, Heft also designed a 51-star American flag, just in case Washington, D.C. or Puerto Rico becomes a state. Heft’s 51-star flag reportedly has six rows of stars alternating between rows of nine and eight. Heft, who died in 2009 at the age of 67, will be forever known as the student who designed the 50-star American flag.
Credit : National Flag Foundation
Picture Credit : Google
