On August 3, 1949, President Harry S Truman signed a proclamation designating a national day on which we honor the United States Flag, and so June 14 became known as National Flag Day.
The story goes deeper, though. President Woodrow Wilson was the first president to establish the date by proclamation in 1916, following initial efforts by New York kindergarten teacher George Balch to hold an observation on the anniversary of the official adoption of the Stars and Stripes. Balch’s 1889 effort gradually gained ground, and with the involvement of the Sons of the Revolution, the idea was popularized. The National Flag Day Association was formed in Illinois in 1894 and a Flag Day observance was held in Chicago that year with three hundred thousand school children in attendance.
It’s no accident that Flag Day traces its history to educating children about Old Glory. Continue reading “Flag Day”