# Subtle flag design at inauguration. Is this customary or (yet more) Texas strutting? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 21, 2005, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-flag-design-at-inauguration-is-this-customary-or-yet-more-texas-strutting/285928 "2005-01-21T16:30:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-flag-design-at-inauguration-is-this-customary-or-yet-more-texas-strutting/285928/1 "2005-01-21T16:30:36Z")
I saw a wide angle photo of the inauguration ceremonies in today’s paper. Something struck me as odd. In the background, above the podium, were hung five giant US flags. The one in the center was a contemporary 50-star version. The two on the ends were what I’ll call “1776-style” with a ring of 13 stars and the normal red and white stripes. But the second and fourth flags were unusual: they had 28 stars, not 50. So I did a little research in a flag book I have. I should have known it! The US flag was redesigned with 28 stars when Texas came into the Union. (Forgive me if this was common knowledge mentioned by inaugural commentators. I did not watch the ceremony.) As someone who is sick of having Texas and God (… am I being redundant? …) shoved down my throat by this administration, I naturally wanted to up-chuck. But then I thought, Hold on. Maybe this is customary, as a subtle courtesy to the person being inaugurated. Maybe they always hang the flag that denotes the entry of the new president’s state at his inuaguration. So that’s my question – is this how it is always done? ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-flag-design-at-inauguration-is-this-customary-or-yet-more-texas-strutting/285928/2 "2005-01-21T16:34:54Z")
> [@stuyguy](#): > > But then I thought, Hold on. Maybe this is customary, as a subtle courtesy to the person being inaugurated. Maybe they always hang the flag that denotes the entry of the new president’s state at his inuaguration. > > So that’s my question – is this how it is always done? I don’t know for a fact, but I don’t believe it’s customary to do that. In any event, just imagine the possibilities: If a Delawarian (is that the right word?) gets elected, we could have a flag with one star! 😃 Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-flag-design-at-inauguration-is-this-customary-or-yet-more-texas-strutting/285928/3 "2005-01-21T16:41:55Z")
> [@stuyguy](#): > > As someone who is sick of having Texas and God (… am I being redundant? …) shoved down my throat by this administration, I naturally wanted to up-chuck. How does the administration shove Texas down your throat? God, yes, I can understand why you would say that, but Texas? ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-flag-design-at-inauguration-is-this-customary-or-yet-more-texas-strutting/285928/4 "2005-01-21T16:47:05Z")
> [@zev\_steinhardt](#): > > I don’t know for a fact, but I don’t believe it’s customary to do that. > > In any event, just imagine the possibilities: If a Delawarian (is that the right word?) gets elected, we could have a flag with one star! 😃 > > Zev Steinhardt Which would imply that we were annexing [Liberia](http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/lr.html) (OK, it’s short a couple stripes - who’s counting) ---
**Author:** ![Mathochist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@Mathochist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mathochist)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-flag-design-at-inauguration-is-this-customary-or-yet-more-texas-strutting/285928/5 "2005-01-21T16:49:03Z")
> [@Absolute](#): > > How does the administration shove Texas down your throat? God, yes, I can understand why you would say that, but Texas? Texas Attorneys-General, Texas book-cooking Secretaries of Education… ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-flag-design-at-inauguration-is-this-customary-or-yet-more-texas-strutting/285928/6 "2005-01-21T16:54:31Z")
> [@zev\_steinhardt](#): > > I don’t know for a fact, but I don’t believe it’s customary to do that. > > In any event, just imagine the possibilities: If a Delawarian (is that the right word?) gets elected, we could have a flag with one star! 😃 > > Zev Steinhardt Funny, but technically incorrect. The USA as currently defined didn’t exist until the Constitution was ratified by a certain number of states. I believe it was nine, so the first Stars and Stripes would have had thirteen stripes and 9 stars. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-flag-design-at-inauguration-is-this-customary-or-yet-more-texas-strutting/285928/7 "2005-01-21T16:59:04Z")
And I didn’t get it right either. According to this site the first flags started with [thirteen stars and thirteen stripes.](http://flagspot.net/flags/us-1777.html) ---
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-flag-design-at-inauguration-is-this-customary-or-yet-more-texas-strutting/285928/8 "2005-01-21T17:14:39Z")
Apparently it’s a tradition that began with President Reagan. [http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/01-05/01-19-05/a02wn386.htm](http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/01-05/01-19-05/a02wn386.htm) > [@](#): > > Five American flags from three centuries now hang from the West side of the Capitol, a decorative tradition that apparently began with President Reagan’s first inauguration. > Flags of various types and star arrangements have always been present at inaugurations, but the five-flag theme seems to be consistent since 1981, the first year the ceremony took place on the West Front of the Capitol, said Betty Koed, assistant Senate historian. > Serving as a backdrop for the stage on Thursday, the large flags hang down, separated by the building’s columns. > The official U.S. flag – 13 stripes, 50 stars – holds center place. Two of the so-called Betsy Ross flags, created soon after the birth of the nation and bearing 13 stars arranged in a circle, flank the arrangement. > \*\*The second and fifth spots typically change every four or eight years to represent how the flag appeared when the president’s home state became part of the union.\*\*For President Bush, these flags have 28 stars: Texas became a state in December 1845, and the 28th star was added the next year. > President Clinton’s backdrops in 1993 and 1997 included the 25-star flag dating to 1836, when Arkansas became a state. > For the first President Bush’s ceremony, the five-flag backdrop included stars and stripes from 1789, 1889 and 1989, marking the bicentennial of George Washington’s inauguration So, hold your vomit, unless you are also equally disgusted by Clinton shoving Arkansas down your throat. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-flag-design-at-inauguration-is-this-customary-or-yet-more-texas-strutting/285928/9 "2005-01-21T17:29:22Z")
**Absolute** beat me to the punch, but yeah. [Here’s](http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/ppmsc/02800/02866v.jpg) a picture of the 1993 inaugural with 25-star flags. Oddly, though, [this site](http://www.usflag.org/the.25.star.flag.html) claims the 25-star flag was not symmetric, so I don’t know what’s up with that. ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-flag-design-at-inauguration-is-this-customary-or-yet-more-texas-strutting/285928/10 "2005-01-21T17:34:28Z")
Good job, Absolute! And consider my vomit held. But, being an obnoxious NYer, seeing \*anybody else’s \* flag up there disgusts me. In fact, at my inauguration I’ll be pissed that I’ll have to share my “state flag” with those twelve other colonial-era coattail riders! [Big grinny here.] ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-flag-design-at-inauguration-is-this-customary-or-yet-more-texas-strutting/285928/11 "2005-01-21T17:35:03Z")
> [@manhattan](#): > > **Absolute** beat me to the punch, but yeah. [Here’s](http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/ppmsc/02800/02866v.jpg) a picture of the 1993 inaugural with 25-star flags. Oddly, though, [this site](http://www.usflag.org/the.25.star.flag.html) claims the 25-star flag was not symmetric, so I don’t know what’s up with that. If you dig through the history on FOTW, you’ll find that it wasn’t until 1912 that the pattern of stars was officially specified as well as the number. Before then, different civilian flag manufacturers arranged them in different patterns (the military specified patterns that were not binding on civilian flags). ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-flag-design-at-inauguration-is-this-customary-or-yet-more-texas-strutting/285928/12 "2005-01-21T17:43:19Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > If you dig through the history on FOTW, you’ll find that it wasn’t until 1912 that the pattern of stars was officially specified as well as the number. Before then, different civilian flag manufacturers arranged them in different patterns (the military specified patterns that were not binding on civilian flags). I’ve seen two different styles of 15-star flags (which state was that? Tennessee?) One flag had a 3x5 grid, and the other one had the original circle of 13 stars, with two more stuck in the center. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-flag-design-at-inauguration-is-this-customary-or-yet-more-texas-strutting/285928/13 "2005-01-21T17:45:22Z")
> [@stuyguy](#): > > Good job, Absolute! > > And consider my vomit held. But, being an obnoxious NYer, seeing \*anybody else’s \* flag up there disgusts me. In fact, at my inauguration I’ll be pissed that I’ll have to share my “state flag” with those twelve other colonial-era coattail riders! [Big grinny here.] When states got admitted in batches, they sometimes skipped numbers later on, too, so some of the later states caould get annoyed, too. Apparently, Vermont (14th), states 16-19, 22, and 39-42 would have to share “their” flags. Note that Vermont and Kentucky would have stripes added for them on the 15 star / 15 stripe flag. It’s a pity somebody realized that was going to become unwieldy. We could have a pin-striped flag with 50 of them. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-flag-design-at-inauguration-is-this-customary-or-yet-more-texas-strutting/285928/14 "2005-01-21T17:50:17Z")
> [@Absolute](#): > > How does the administration shove Texas down your throat? God, yes, I can understand why you would say that, but Texas? He does talk about Texas a ton. I don’t know if this is unusual either. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-flag-design-at-inauguration-is-this-customary-or-yet-more-texas-strutting/285928/15 "2005-01-21T17:56:16Z")
Actually, the numbers I gave you were for numbers of stars skipped. Kentucky (15), and states 20, 23 and 43 (I’m too lazy to look these up) have to “share” as well. (I wish we could edit. Please ignore that extra “too”.) ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-flag-design-at-inauguration-is-this-customary-or-yet-more-texas-strutting/285928/16 "2005-01-23T11:26:04Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > I’ve seen two different styles of 15-star flags (which state was that? Tennessee?) One flag had a 3x5 grid, and the other one had the original circle of 13 stars, with two more stuck in the center. Kentucky. Tennessee was the 16[sup]th[/sup] state. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-flag-design-at-inauguration-is-this-customary-or-yet-more-texas-strutting/285928/17 "2005-01-23T14:36:28Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > Kentucky. Tennessee was the 16[sup]th[/sup] state. Damn. I knew it was either Tennessee or Kentucky. ---
**Author:** ![Jurph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/50afbb/32.png) [@Jurph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurph)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-flag-design-at-inauguration-is-this-customary-or-yet-more-texas-strutting/285928/18 "2005-01-23T18:03:43Z")
> [@zev\_steinhardt](#): > > I don’t know for a fact, but I don’t believe it’s customary to do that. > > In any event, just imagine the possibilities: If a Delawarian (is that the right word?) gets elected, we could have a flag with one star! 😃 > > Zev Steinhardt As a Delawarean (note the authoritative spelling, FYI, zev) I would probably place the 1787 flag in one spot and either the Delaware state flag or the Sussex County flag (or, what the hell, the Air Force flag) in the other slot. Since we only have three counties, we retain an absurd amount of pride in them. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-flag-design-at-inauguration-is-this-customary-or-yet-more-texas-strutting/285928/19 "2005-01-23T18:09:44Z")
Delaware always amuses me for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-flag-design-at-inauguration-is-this-customary-or-yet-more-texas-strutting/285928/20 "2005-01-23T19:07:47Z")
> [@stuyguy](#): > > Good job, Absolute! > > And consider my vomit held. But, being an obnoxious NYer, seeing \*anybody else’s \* flag up there disgusts me. In fact, at my inauguration I’ll be pissed that I’ll have to share my “state flag” with those twelve other colonial-era coattail riders! [Big grinny here.] New York was hardly a trailblazer for independence at the Continental Congress. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-flag-design-at-inauguration-is-this-customary-or-yet-more-texas-strutting/285928.md?page=2)