Most people think that Betsy Rose was the designer of the American flag, but that’s wrong, she only made the flag. The real real designer was a 17 year old boy, he designed it for a high school project.
How It Got Started
As I mentioned, the flag was made by a 17 year old boy. This boy, Robert G. Heft designed this flag in 1958. This only happened because he was assigned it as an American history project, and after their discussion of adding Hawaii and Alaska as states. Heft was inspired, and decided he was going to make a flag, with stars for Hawaii and Alaska.
He worked on this project for twelve and a half hours to figure out the arrangement with the new coming states and to sew. Even though Heft didn’t know how to sew, he put all his effort in, and only to get graded a B- by his teacher, Stanley Pratt.
Stanley Pratt’s reasons were that “anyone could make the flag” and “lacked originality”. His teacher also asked him if he knew how many states there were in America, because he added more stars for the new states.
His teacher had then said if Congress could adopt it, then he would receive a better grade.
Heft sent his flag off to the Congressman of Ohio, which was at the time, Representative Walter Moeller. Over 1,500 was the number of how many entries he had won.
Because of this change, we have a new American flag that became official on July 4, 1959. He even was personally invited to Washington D.C. by the 34th president, Dwight D. Eisenhower. But more importantly, Robert Heft got his “A”.
What the Flag Means
The flag that Robert Heft designed is symbolic, in many ways.
The Stripes
The 13 stripes on the flag are important because they resemble the 13 colonies. The 13 colonies are Eastern states, that were the first states settled there in America. Including: New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.
The Stars
The stars on the flag represent the states. There are 50 states and 50 stars. Again, there used to be 48 because Alaska and Hawaii weren’t official states yet, but because of Heft’s care for the states, we have an even number: 50.
The Colors
Some may not know this, but the colors are also symbolic. Stated in pbs.org “Red symbolizes hardiness and valor, white symbolizes purity and innocence, and blue represents vigilance, perseverance, and justice.”
Sounds like a perfect American flag, with symbolism for the stars, stripes and colors, that all match the country really well. Every time you see the flag, or say the Pledge of Allegiance, remember what it represents. And always remember Robert Heft, the man who made the flag at age 17, for a high school project.
