The Fifty Star Flag: A Symbol of America

Side A: The design for the fifty star flag was born here at Lancaster High School in 1958 when student Robert Heft designed it for a history class project. Reasoning that since Alaska was seeking admission as a state and that Hawaii would soon follow, Heft constructed a fifty star flag from an old 48-star flag using blue cloth to replace the field and white adhesive for the stars. When Heft received a B- on his project, his teacher, Stanley Pratt, promised that he would raise the grade if he submitted the flag design to their congressman, Walter Moeller. Moeller in turn passed the flag design on to the chairman of the Congressional Flag Design Committee, who also liked it. President Dwight D. Eisenhower made the design the official American flag in 1960. It is the only flag in American history to have flown over the White House for more than five administrations. Side B: Same