You did remember that New Years Day is the first day to fly U.S. flags in 2022, under the U.S. Flag Code and other laws and regulations, right?
Happy New Year.
Happy New Year! First flag-flying date of 2022
January 1, 2022December 2021 flag-flying days
December 1, 2021
A “living flag” composed of 10,000 sailors, or “Blue Jackets at Salute,” by the Mayhart Studios, December 1917; image probably at the Great Lakes training facility of the Navy. Gawker media image
November offers several flag flying days, especially in years when there is an election.
But December may be the month with the most flag-flying dates, when we include statehood days.
December 7 is Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. It’s not in the Flag Code, but public law (P.L. 103-308) urges that the president should issue a proclamation asking Americans to fly flags.
December 25 is Christmas Day, a federal holiday, and one of the score of dates designated in the Flag Code. If you watch your neighborhood closely, you’ll note even some of the most ardent flag wavers miss posting the colors on this day, as they do on Thanksgiving and New Years and Easter.
Other dates?
Nine states attained statehood in December! People in those states should fly their flags (and you may join them). Included in this group is Delaware, traditionally the “First State,” called that because it was the first former England colony to ratify the U.S. Constitution:
- Illinois, December 3 (1818, 21st state)
- Delaware, December 7 (1787, 1st state)
- Mississippi, December 10 (1817, 20th state)
- Indiana, December 11 (1816, 19th state)
- Pennsylvania, December 12 (1787, 2nd state)
- Alabama, December 14 (1819, 22nd state)
- New Jersey, December 18 (1787, 3rd state)
- Iowa, December 28 (1846, 29th state)
- Texas, December 29 (1845, 28th state)
December 15 is Bill of Rights Day, marking the day in 1791 when the Bill of Rights was declared ratified; but though this event generally gets a presidential proclamation, there is no law or executive action that requires flags to fly on that date, for that occasion.
Eleven flag-flying dates in December. Does any other month have as many flag flying opportunities?
Have I missed any December flag-flying dates? 11 events on 10 days (Delaware’s statehood falls on the anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack).
Here’s a list of the 10 days to fly the flag in December 2021, under national law, in chronological order:
- Illinois, December 3 (1818, 21st state)
- Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, December 7
- Delaware, December 7 (1787, 1st state) (shared with Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day)
- Mississippi, December 10 (1817, 20th state)
- Indiana, December 11 (1816, 19th state)
- Pennsylvania, December 12 (1787, 2nd state)
- Alabama, December 14 (1819, 22nd state)
- New Jersey, December 18 (1787, 3rd state)
- Christmas Day, December 25
- Iowa, December 28 (1846, 29th state)
- Texas, December 29 (1845, 28th state)
Fly your flag with respect, for the flag, for the republic it represents, and for all those who sacrificed that it may wave on your residence.

Appropriate to a snowy December. “The Barn on Grayson-New Hope Road [Lawrenceville, Georgia]. This barn with its old truck and ever-present American flag, is often the subject of photographs and paintings by the locals.” Photo and copyright by Melinda Anderson

Flag Day 2021! (Fly your flag all week) – A teacher started it
June 11, 2021Of course you know to fly your flag on June 14 for Flag Day — but did you know that the week containing Flag Day is Flag Week, and we are encouraged to fly the flag every day?

Clifford Berryman’s 1901 Flag Day cartoon, found at the National Archives: “In this June 14, 1904, cartoon, Uncle Sam gives a lesson to schoolchildren on the meaning of Flag Day. Holding the American flag in one hand, Uncle Sam explains that the flag has great importance, unlike the Vice Presidency, which he ridicules in a kindly manner. (National Archives Identifier 6010464)”
The 105th Congress in 1998 passed a law designating the week in which Flag Day falls as Flag Week, encouraging Americans to fly the flag the entire week. In 2021 that runs from Sunday, June 13, through Saturday, June 19.
Our National Archives has a blogged history of Flag Day pointing out it was a teacher who started Flag Day celebrations.
On June 14, 1885, Bernard J. Cigrand placed a 10-inch, 38-star flag in a bottle on his desk at the Stony Hill School in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin. The 19-year-old teacher then asked his students to write essays on the flag and its significance to them. This small observance marked the beginning of a long and devoted campaign by Cigrand to bring about national recognition for Flag Day.
And so we do, today, still.

Yes, this is an encore post. Defeating ignorance takes patience and perseverance.
May 2021, flag-flying dates
May 1, 2021
Childe Hassam, “Victory Day, May 1919,” 1919, oil on canvas, 36 x 21 3/4 inches (91.4 x 55.2 cm), American Academy of Arts and Letters, NY. There were at least twenty-three paintings in Hassam’s series of flag paintings. This Victory Day celebration no longer occurs, though there are several other May days to fly the colors.
May has three days designated for flying the U.S. flag out of the specific days mentioned in the U.S. Flag Code, three days designated in other federal laws, and three statehood days, when residents of those states should fly their flags.
Interestingly, the three designated days all float, from year to year:
- Mother’s Day, second Sunday in May (May 9, in 2021)
- Armed Forces Day, third Saturday in May (May 17)
- Memorial Day, the last Monday in May (May 31)
Residents of these states celebrate statehood; South Carolina and Wisconsin share May 23:
- Minnesota, May 11 (1858, the 32nd state)
- South Carolina, May 23 (1788, the 8th state)
- Wisconsin, May 23 (1848, the 30th state)
- Rhode Island, May 29 (1790, the last of the 13 original colonies to ratify the Constitution)
In 2016 President Obama issued a proclamation calling on citizens to fly the flag on May 1, Law Day. It’s also Loyalty Day, which got a proclamation from President Obama calling for flag flying in 2016.
Trump did the same in 2017, and for Loyalty Day, surprising me that his office was organized enough to do it.
May 8 marks the 76th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day, the day the Axis Powers in Europe surrendered at the end of World War II. Some years that day is marked by a proclamation calling for flag flying. (You may fly your flag then even if Congress and the President do nothing.)
In recent years Presidents have proclaimed May 15 as Peace Officers Memorial Day, with flags to fly at half-staff. We might expect another such declaration in 2021.
May 22 is National Maritime Day, under a Joint Resolution from Congress from 1933. President Joe Biden may proclaim that day as a day to fly the flag, too.
Twelve events on fourteen days to fly the U.S. flag. May could be quite busy for flag fliers.
- Law Day, May 1, AND
- Loyalty Day, May 1
- Victory in Europe Day, May 8
- Mothers Day, May 9
- Minnesota Statehood, May 11
- Peace Officers Memorial Day, May 15 (half-staff flags; the law for Police Week calls for flags to be half-staff the entire week in which May 15 occurs, May 9-15 in 2021)
- Armed Forces Day, May 17
- National Maritime Day, May 22
- South Carolina Statehood, May 23, AND
- Wisconsin Statehood, May 23
- Rhode Island Statehood, May 29
- Memorial Day, May 31

US flag flying at the U.S. Supreme Court’s west portico, suitable for Law Day, May 1. (But this photo was taken in June, 2012; Alex Brandon/AP)

Flying U.S. flags in January 2021
January 6, 2021“Raising the first American flag, Somerville, Mass., January 1, 1776.” Harper’s Weekly painting by Clyde Osmer DeLand, 1897. From the digital collections of the New York Public Library; yes, MFB has used this painting before. I like it.
One problem with January’s flag flying dates is that if I snooze a little, you miss a lot. There are four flag-flying dates in the first five days of January: New Year’s Day and statehood days for Georgia, Alaska and Utah. You, Dear Reader, are alert and didn’t let any of those dates pass unmarked if you’re in those states, right?
There are six more dates to go in January 2021, including New Mexico’s statehood today. We’re not halfway done, yet.
In January 2020, the U.S. Flag Code urges citizens to fly flags on these dates, listed chronologically:
- New Year’s Day, January 1, a federal holiday
- January 2, Georgia Statehood Day
- January 3, Alaska Statehood Day
- January 4, Utah Statehood Day
- January 6, New Mexico Statehood Day
- January 9, Connecticut Statehood Day
- Martin Luther King’s Birthday, a federal holiday on the third Monday of January; that date is January 18, in 2021; King’s actual birthday is January 15, and you may fly your flag then, too
- Inauguration Day, January 20, the year after election years; 2021 will see the inauguration of President Joseph R. Biden (first President named Joe; what took so long?)
- January 26, Michigan Statehood Day
- January 29, Kansas Statehood Day
You may fly your flag any other day you wish, too; flags should not be flown after sundown unless they are specially lighted, or at one of the few places designated by Congress or Presidential Proclamation for 24-hour flag flying. According to Wikipedia’s listing, those sites include:
- Fort McHenry, Baltimore, Maryland (Presidential Proclamation No. 2795, July 2, 1948).
- Flag House Square, Albemarle and Pratt Streets, Baltimore, Maryland (Public Law 83-319, approved March 26, 1954).
- Marine Corps War Memorial (Iwo Jima Memorial), Arlington, Virginia (Presidential Proclamation No. 3418, June 12, 1961).
- Lexington Battle Green, Lexington, Massachusetts (Public Law 89-335, approved November 8, 1965).
- White House, Washington, D.C. (Presidential Proclamation No. 4000, September 4, 1970).
- Washington Monument, Washington, D.C. (Presidential Proclamation No. 4064, July 6, 1971, effective July 4, 1971).
- Any port of entry to the United States which is continuously open (Presidential Proclamation No. 413 1, May 5, 1972).
- Grounds of the National Memorial Arch in Valley Forge State Park, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania (Public Law 94-53, approved July 4, 1975).

Flag House in 1936, where Mary Pickersgill sewed the garrison-sized, 15-star flag that flew over Fort McHenry at the Battle of Baltimore in 1814; one of the sites where the U.S. flag may be flown 24 hours. The house is at 844 East Pratt & Albemarle Streets (Baltimore, Independent City, Maryland). Cropped image courtesy of the federal HABS—Historic American Buildings Survey of Maryland.
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December 2020 flag-flying days
November 30, 2020
A “living flag” composed of 10,000 sailors, or “Blue Jackets at Salute,” by the Mayhart Studios, December 1917; image probably at the Great Lakes training facility of the Navy. Gawker media image
November offers several flag flying days, especially in years when there is an election.
But December may be the month with the most flag-flying dates, when we include statehood days.
December 7 is Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. It’s not in the Flag Code, but public law (P.L. 103-308) urges that the president should issue a proclamation asking Americans to fly flags.
December 25 is Christmas Day, a federal holiday, and one of the score of dates designated in the Flag Code. If you watch your neighborhood closely, you’ll note even some of the most ardent flag wavers miss posting the colors on this day, as they do on Thanksgiving and New Years and Easter.
Other dates?
Nine states attained statehood in December, so people in those states should fly their flags (and you may join them). Included in this group is Delaware, traditionally the “First State,” called that because it was the first former England colony to ratify the U.S. Constitution:
- Illinois, December 3 (1818, 21st state)
- Delaware, December 7 (1787, 1st state)
- Mississippi, December 10 (1817, 20th state)
- Indiana, December 11 (1816, 19th state)
- Pennsylvania, December 12 (1787, 2nd state)
- Alabama, December 14 (1819, 22nd state)
- New Jersey, December 18 (1787, 3rd state)
- Iowa, December 28 (1846, 29th state)
- Texas, December 29 (1845, 28th state)
December 15 is Bill of Rights Day, marking the day in 1791 when the Bill of Rights was declared ratified; but though this event generally gets a presidential proclamation, there is no law or executive action that requires flags to fly on that date, for that occasion. I predict there will be no proclamation from the White House in 2020.
Eleven flag-flying dates in December. Does any other month have as many flag flying opportunities?
Have I missed any December flag-flying dates? 11 events on 10 days (Delaware’s statehood falls on the anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack).
Here’s a list of the 10 days to fly the flag in December 2020, under national law, in chronological order:
- Illinois, December 3 (1818, 21st state)
- Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, December 7
- Delaware, December 7 (1787, 1st state) (shared with Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day)
- Mississippi, December 10 (1817, 20th state)
- Indiana, December 11 (1816, 19th state)
- Pennsylvania, December 12 (1787, 2nd state)
- Alabama, December 14 (1819, 22nd state)
- New Jersey, December 18 (1787, 3rd state)
- Christmas Day, December 25
- Iowa, December 28 (1846, 29th state)
- Texas, December 29 (1845, 28th state)
Fly your flag with respect, for the flag, for the republic it represents, and for all those who sacrificed that it may wave on your residence.

Appropriate to a snowy December. “The Barn on Grayson-New Hope Road. This barn with its old truck and ever-present American flag, is often the subject of photographs and paintings by the locals.” Photo and copyright by Melinda Anderson

Fly your U.S. flags in January 2020
January 1, 2020“Raising the first American flag, Somerville, Mass., January 1, 1776.” Harper’s Weekly painting by Clyde Osmer DeLand, 1897. From the digital collections of the New York Public Library
January is loaded with flag flying dates, when we add in statehood days, dates those states are invited to fly their U.S. flags.
In January 2020, the U.S. Flag Code urges citizens to fly flags on these dates, listed chronologically:
- New Year’s Day, January 1, a federal holiday
- January 2, Georgia Statehood Day
- January 3, Alaska Statehood Day
- January 4, Utah Statehood Day
- January 6, New Mexico Statehood Day
- January 9, Connecticut Statehood Day
- Martin Luther King’s Birthday, a federal holiday on the third Monday of January; that date is January 20, in 2020; King’s actual birthday is January 15, and you may fly your flag then, too
- Inauguration Day, January 20, the year after election years; 2020 is not an inauguration year; 2021 will be
- January 26, Michigan Statehood Day
- January 29, Kansas Statehood Day
You may fly your flag any other day you wish, too; flags should not be flown after sundown unless they are specially lighted, or at one of the few places designated by Congress or Presidential Proclamation for 24-hour flag flying. According to Wikipedia’s listing, those sites include:
- Fort McHenry, Baltimore, Maryland (Presidential Proclamation No. 2795, July 2, 1948).
- Flag House Square, Albemarle and Pratt Streets, Baltimore, Maryland (Public Law 83-319, approved March 26, 1954).
- Marine Corps War Memorial (Iwo Jima Memorial), Arlington, Virginia (Presidential Proclamation No. 3418, June 12, 1961).
- Lexington Battle Green, Lexington, Massachusetts (Public Law 89-335, approved November 8, 1965).
- White House, Washington, D.C. (Presidential Proclamation No. 4000, September 4, 1970).
- Washington Monument, Washington, D.C. (Presidential Proclamation No. 4064, July 6, 1971, effective July 4, 1971).
- Any port of entry to the United States which is continuously open (Presidential Proclamation No. 413 1, May 5, 1972).
- Grounds of the National Memorial Arch in Valley Forge State Park, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania (Public Law 94-53, approved July 4, 1975).

Flag House in 1936, where Mary Pickersgill sewed the garrison-sized, 15-star flag that flew over Fort McHenry at the Battle of Baltimore in 1814; one of the sites where the U.S. flag may be flown 24 hours. The house is at 844 East Pratt & Albemarle Streets (Baltimore, Independent City, Maryland). Cropped image courtesy of the federal HABS—Historic American Buildings Survey of Maryland.
Save


December 2019 flag-flying days
December 5, 2019
A “living flag” composed of 10,000 sailors, or “Blue Jackets at Salute,” by the Mayhart Studios, December 1917; image probably at the Great Lakes training facility of the Navy. Gawker media image
November offers several flag flying days, especially in years when there is an election.
But December may be the month with the most flag-flying dates, when we include statehood days.
December 7 is Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. It’s not in the Flag Code, but public law (P.L. 103-308) urges that the president should issue a proclamation asking Americans to fly flags.
December 25 is Christmas Day, a federal holiday, and one of the score of dates designated in the Flag Code. If you watch your neighborhood closely, you’ll note even some of the most ardent flag wavers miss posting the colors on this day, as they do on Thanksgiving and New Years.
Other dates?
Nine states attained statehood in December, so people in those states should fly their flags (and you may join them). Included in this group is Delaware, traditionally the “First State,” as it was the first colony to ratify the U.S. Constitution:
- Illinois, December 3 (1818, 21st state)
- Delaware, December 7 (1787, 1st state)
- Mississippi, December 10 (1817, 20th state)
- Indiana, December 11 (1816, 19th state)
- Pennsylvania, December 12 (1787, 2nd state)
- Alabama, December 14 (1819, 22nd state)
- New Jersey, December 18 (1787, 3rd state)
- Iowa, December 28 (1846, 29th state)
- Texas, December 29 (1845, 28th state)
December 15 is Bill of Rights Day, marking the day in 1791 when the Bill of Rights was declared ratified; but though this event generally gets a presidential proclamation, there is no law or executive action that requires flags to fly on that date, for that occasion.
Eleven flag-flying dates in December. Does any other month have as many flag flying opportunities?
Have I missed any December flag-flying dates? 11 events on 10 days (Delaware’s statehood falls on the anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack).
Here’s a list of the days to fly the flag, under national law, in chronological order:
- Illinois, December 3 (1818, 21st state)
- Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, December 7
- Delaware, December 7 (1787, 1st state) (shared with Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day)
- Mississippi, December 10 (1817, 20th state)
- Indiana, December 11 (1816, 19th state)
- Pennsylvania, December 12 (1787, 2nd state)
- Alabama, December 14 (1819, 22nd state)
- New Jersey, December 18 (1787, 3rd state)
- Christmas Day, December 25
- Iowa, December 28 (1846, 29th state)
- Texas, December 29 (1845, 28th state)
Fly your flag with respect to the flag, for the republic it represents, and for all those who sacrificed that it may wave on your residence.

Appropriate to a snowy December. “The Barn on Grayson-New Hope Road. This barn with its old truck and ever-present American flag, is often the subject of photographs and paintings by the locals.” Photo and copyright by Melinda Anderson

Encore: George H. W. Bush’s letter to Bill Clinton reminds us what we have lost
December 1, 2018
Composite, photo of President Clinton and President Bush, and the letter Bush left for Clinton to find on his first day as president. PHOTO: Composite. Frank Micelotta/Getty Images, sabagl/Twitter, via Glamour
Do they make Republicans so patriotic and thoughtful any more?
On the death of President George H. W. Bush, I think it’s good to revisit the evidence that, on the surface, a little deeper, and deep down, George Bush the elder was just a very decent, kind human being. We should celebrate his decency and kindness, and encourage it in others.
Most of this post is a repeat from just before the elections in 2016.
1992’s election was unnecessarily nasty, I thought. Incumbent George H. W. Bush had fallen from record approval ratings after Gulf War I, due to economic problems. GOP campaigning targeted Bill Clinton’s failings in personal life, and imaginary policies — much of what were real issues were ignored, I thought.
Transition was relatively smooth. GOP continued the tactic’s they’d adopted in 1977 against Jimmy Carter, constant harping on small issues, some refusal to cooperate.
George H. W. Bush is was always gracious. In his last hours in office, he penned a personal letter to the man who had defeated him, Bill Clinton. He left the letter on the President’s Desk in the Oval Office, one of the first things Clinton would see after the ceremonies, and as the weight of his new job began dragging him into reality.
Bush’s grace, then, shines now as an example of a lost time, when despite deep divisions, Washington politicians understood the nation needed to run, and were willing to compromise to make the laws and appointments necessary to help America.
Bush wrote:

Letter from President George H. W. Bush to President Bill Clinton, January 20, 1993. Image via NBC News.
Bush wrote to Clinton:
You will be our president when you read this note. I wish you well. I wish your family well.
Your success is now our country’s success. I am rooting for you. Good Luck.
Are there any such Republicans left in the party? Does anyone make Republicans like that now?
We need that grace, and resolve to make America a better and happier place, back again. Send a thank-you letter to someone you know today.
More:

Yes, this is an encore post. Defeating ignorance takes patience and perseverance.
Beto O’Rourke, on kneeling for national anthem
August 23, 2018
U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-Texas (El Paso) in a House committee hearing room. Relevant Magazine image.
U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke reaches out to every Texan in his campaign for the U.S. Senate seat occupied by Ted Cruz. O’Rourke already visited all 254 Texas counties, listening to Texans tell him what is important in their lives.
Now Beto conducts town hall meetings.
Recently a Texan asked him about NFL players’ kneeling during the national anthem.
Does his answer surprise you? It reveals the thought he’s put into issues.
May 2018, flag-flying dates
May 8, 2018
“Early Morning on the Avenue in May 1917,” Frederick Childe Hassam, oil on canvas, 1917; Addison Gallery of American Art.
Description from the Addison Gallery: “Early Morning on the Avenue in May 1917 belongs to a series of flag paintings that Frederick Childe Hassam created during World War I, between 1916 and 1919. Totaling nearly thirty canvases, the series constituted the artist’s last significant body of work. It demonstrates his vigorous brushwork, bright palette, and what the critics called his truly American interpretation of the French aesthetic of Impressionism.
“French Impressionists had recorded contemporary life, usually under bright, sunny spring skies. Hassam was also interested in capturing weather conditions: Early Morning on the Avenue is distinct in the series for its overall whiteness, the brilliancy of the hue transforming the cloudless blue sky to a pearly white and bleaching the buildings and sidewalks to opalescent tones. The flag paintings, however, were not just about weather and light. They were begun in response to the flag displays and parades that were organized in New York City as part of the war effort. Hassam was a patriot and an ardent Anglophile, and he used these paintings to demonstrate his support for the Allies. Color and light therefore took on a metaphorical significance, the pervasiveness of white in Early Morning on the Avenue suggesting purity and the righteousness of the Allied cause.”
May has three days designated for flying the U.S. flag out of the specific days mentioned in the U.S. Flag Code, three days designated in other federal laws, and three statehood days, when residents of those states should fly their flags.
Interestingly, the three designated days all float, from year to year:
- Mother’s Day, second Sunday in May (May 13, in 2018)
- Armed Forces Day, third Saturday in May (May 19)
- Memorial Day, the last Monday in May (May 28)
Residents of these states celebrate statehood; South Carolina and Wisconsin share May 23:
- Minnesota, May 11 (1858, the 32nd state)
- South Carolina, May 23 (1788, the 8th state)
- Wisconsin, May 23 (1848, the 30th state)
- Rhode Island, May 29 (1790, the last of the 13 original colonies to ratify the Constitution)
In 2016 President Obama issued a proclamation calling on citizens to fly the flag on May 1, Law Day. It’s also Loyalty Day, which got a proclamation from President Obama calling for flag flying in 2016, and from President Trump in 2017.
May 8 marks the 70th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day, the day the Axis Powers in Europe surrendered at the end of World War II. Some years that day is marked by a proclamation calling for flag flying. (You may fly your flag then even if Congress and the President do nothing.)
In recent years President Obama proclaimed May 15 as Peace Officers Memorial Day, with flags to fly at half-staff. We might expect another such declaration in 2018, but we’ll see next week.
May 22 is National Maritime Day, under a Joint Resolution from Congress from 1933. President Trump may proclaim that day as a day to fly the flag, too.
Twelve events on fourteen days to fly the U.S. flag. May could be quite busy for flag fliers.
- Law Day, May 1, AND
- Loyalty Day, May 1
- Victory in Europe Day, May 8
- Minnesota Statehood, May 11
- Mothers Day, May 13
- Peace Officers Memorial Day, May 15 (half-staff flags; the law for Police Week calls for flags to be half-staff the entire week in which May 15 occurs, May 14-20 in 2017)
- Armed Forces Day, May 19
- National Maritime Day, May 22
- South Carolina Statehood, May 23, AND
- Wisconsin Statehood, May 23
- Memorial Day, May 28
- Rhode Island Statehood, May 29

US flag flying at the U.S. Supreme Court’s west portico, suitable for Law Day, May 1. (But this photo was taken in June, 2012; Alex Brandon/AP)
July 4, 2017: Fly your flag! 241st anniversary of public reading of the Declaration of Independence
July 3, 2017
At Four Mile Historic Park in Glendale, Colorado, Abraham Lincoln actor John Voehl pauses before delivering the Gettysburg Address at a 4th of July celebration (yes, Lincoln delivered the address on November 16; it’s a great statement of the meaning and history of the Declaration of Independence, and probably appropriate for July 4, remembering that the actual independence resolution passed on July 2, 1776 . . .) Denver Post file photo
It’s a day of tradition — oddly enough, since we are in reality a very new nation, and Lee’s resolution to declare independence from Britain came on July 2.
A soak in Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub is nothing if not a steeping in tradition. Fly your flag today, to celebrate the independence of the American colonies of Britain.
Fourth of July: NPR has already read the Declaration of Independence (or will soon, if you’re up early), PBS is ready to broadcast the Capitol Fourth concert (maybe a rebroadcast is available, if you’re off at your own town’s fireworks — check your local listings), your town has a parade somewhere this weekend, or a neighboring community does, and fireworks are everywhere.
At the White House, traditionally, new citizens are sworn in — often people who joined our armed forces and fought for our nation, before even getting the privileges of citizenship. Fireworks on the Capital Mall will be grand. President Obama’s White House would host a few thousand military people and their families from some of the best views. Traditionally, five photographers, chosen by lottery, get to shoot photos of the fireworks from the windows of the Washington Monument; will that occur, with the Monument open again after repair from the earthquake?
There will be great fireworks also in Baltimore Harbor over Fort McHenry, the fort whose siege inspired Francis Scott Key to write the “Star-spangled Banner” from his boat in the harbor, in 1814. Fireworks will frighten the bluebirds nesting at Yorktown National Battlefield. I suspect there will be a grand display at Gettysburg, on the 154th anniversary of the end of that battle. July 4, 1863, also marked the end of the Siege of Vicksburg; tradition holds that Vicksburg did not celebrate the 4th of July for 83 years after that. I’ll wager there will be fireworks there tonight.
In Provo, Utah, the city poobahs will have done all they can to try to live up to their self-proclaimed reputation as having the biggest Independence Day celebration in the nation. Will the celebration in Prescott, Arizona, still be muted by the tragic deaths of 19 Hot Shot firefighters a few years ago; will drought halt the fireworks, too? There will be fireworks around the Golden Gate Bridge, in Anchorage, Alaska, reflecting on the waters of Pearl Harbor, and probably in Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Marianas Islands.
Fireworks on the Fourth is a long tradition — a tradition that kept John Adams and Thomas Jefferson alive, until they both died on the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, in 1826, the sounds of the fireworks letting Adams know the celebration had begun (Adams erroneously celebrated that Jefferson, the Declaration’s author, still lived, unable to know Jefferson had passed just hours earlier).
Remember to put your flag up today.

Last flag on the Moon: Astronaut Eugene Cernan and the U.S. Flag — Apollo 17 on the Moon (NASA photo)
If you’re not on the Moon, here are some tips on flag etiquette, how to appropriately fly our national standard.
Also:
- “Fireworks in Washington, D.C.” (from 2009)
- Another post from 2009 – linked for the photo
- Our current 50-star flag is the longest-flying flag since 1789; since Hawaii’s entry into the Union, the U.S. has gone the longest stretch without adding a state (is it time to add one?)
- Fun quizzes on the Fourth of July, from PBS’s “Capitol Fourth.”
- Advice on photographing fireworks, from PBS (with experience on the Mall in Washington, D.C.), and from Ritz Camera and the New York Institute of Photography
- One more way we know the Moon landings were real — the photo below shows the flag from the photo above, still on the Moon.

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter photo of the Apollo 17 landing site. NASA caption: Apollo 17 Lunar Module Challenger descent stage comes into focus from the new lower 50 km mapping orbit, image width 102 meters. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University
- Fourth of July trivia: Fun facts about flags, food and fireworks (mercurynews.com)
- Happy Fourth Of July! Celebrate With 75 ‘Firework’ Songs (huffingtonpost.com)
- Y! Big Story: Lesser known truths about Fourth of July (givemeliberty01.wordpress.com)
- Fireworks TV schedule: July 4, 2012 — when, where to watch (examiner.com)
- AP PHOTOS: Americans celebrate the Fourth of July (sfgate.com)
- Josh Turner plays PBS’s ‘A Capitol Fourth’ special (blogs.tennessean.com)
- Why We Watch Fireworks on the Fourth of July (usnews.com)
- Assemblyman Eric Linder presents Fourth of July Resolution (ocpolitical.com)
- Fourth Of July By The Numbers: Stats On Food, Fireworks, Flags & More (947thewave.cbslocal.com)
- This Fourth of July, Celebrate Safely (cmichaels225.wordpress.com)
- Our View: Tonight, we can all look up together (appeal-democrat.com)
- D.C. Prepares for Annual ‘A Capitol Fourth’ Concert (washington.cbslocal.com)
- Fourth of July Eve (ktindc.wordpress.com)
- No, the press conference on the discovery of the Higgs Boson was not intended to celebrate America’s Independence Day; still . . .
- Quote of the moment: Thomas Jefferson, on the 4th of July and its meaning
- Be sure to read Carl Anthony’s great story about the origins of Uncle Sam — is he the man they say he was? — his split personality, and how it was resolved
This is mostly an encore post, but I so love that photo of the flag with the Earth in the distance.
Happy birthday, Kathryn!

Fireworks in Duncanville, Texas, for July 4 — Kathryn Knowles’s birthday. We’re always happy the town chimes in with the celebratory spirit.
Tip of the old scrub brush to Thomas Jefferson, Richard Henry Lee, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston, and the cast of thousands of patriots including George Washington.

Yes, this is mostly an encore post. Fighting ignorance requires patience.
May 2017, flag-flying dates
May 2, 2017
Childe Hassam, “Victory Day, May 1919,” 1919, oil on canvas, 36 x 21 3/4 inches (91.4 x 55.2 cm), American Academy of Arts and Letters, NY. There were at least twenty-three paintings in Hassam’s series of flag paintings. This Victory Day celebration no longer occurs, though there are several other May days to fly the colors.
May has three days designated for flying the U.S. flag out of the specific days mentioned in the U.S. Flag Code, three days designated in other federal laws, and three statehood days, when residents of those states should fly their flags.
Interestingly, the three designated days all float, from year to year:
- Mother’s Day, second Sunday in May (May 14, in 2017)
- Armed Forces Day, third Saturday in May (May 20)
- Memorial Day, the last Monday in May (May 28)
Residents of these states celebrate statehood; South Carolina and Wisconsin share May 23:
- Minnesota, May 11 (1858, the 32nd state)
- South Carolina, May 23 (1788, the 8th state)
- Wisconsin, May 23 (1848, the 30th state)
- Rhode Island, May 29 (1790, the last of the 13 original colonies to ratify the Constitution)
In 2016 President Obama issued a proclamation calling on citizens to fly the flag on May 1, Law Day. It’s also Loyalty Day, which got a proclamation from President Obama calling for flag flying in 2016.
Trump did the same this year, and for Loyalty Day, surprising me that his office is organized enough to do it.
May 8 marks the 70th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day, the day the Axis Powers in Europe surrendered at the end of World War II. Some years that day is marked by a proclamation calling for flag flying. (You may fly your flag then even if Congress and the President do nothing.)
In recent years President Obama has proclaimed May 15 as Peace Officers Memorial Day, with flags to fly at half-staff. We might expect another such declaration in 2016.
May 22 is National Maritime Day, under a Joint Resolution from Congress from 1933. President Obama may be expected to proclaim that day as a day to fly the flag, too.
Twelve events on fourteen days to fly the U.S. flag. May could be quite busy for flag fliers.
- Law Day, May 1, AND
- Loyalty Day, May 1
- Victory in Europe Day, May 8
- Minnesota Statehood, May 11
- Mothers Day, May 14
- Peace Officers Memorial Day, May 15 (half-staff flags; the law for Police Week calls for flags to be half-staff the entire week in which May 15 occurs, May 14-20 in 2017)
- Armed Forces Day, May 20
- National Maritime Day, May 22
- South Carolina Statehood, May 23, AND
- Wisconsin Statehood, May 23
- Memorial Day, May 28
- Rhode Island Statehood, May 29

US flag flying at the U.S. Supreme Court’s west portico, suitable for Law Day, May 1. (But this photo was taken in June, 2012; Alex Brandon/AP)

U.S. flag on the McPolin Barn, Park City, Utah (It’s Utah Statehood Day!)
January 4, 2017Most Utah citizens regard themselves as patriots. It’s a state where almost every home has at least one U.S. flag, and where many neighborhoods will be festooned with them on any U.S. holiday.
January 4 is Utah’s statehood day. I ran across this photo of the picturesque McPolin Barn in Park City, Utah, up in the Wasatch Mountains in ski country.
For Utah Statehood day, I pass it along:

U.S. flag displayed on the McPolin Barn, Park City, Utah. Date unknown, photographer unknown (if you can identify the photographer, please do!)