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This beautiful flag is
an official United States Navy issued President's Flag
from the World War II era. The eagle of the flag
is entirely hand sewn. This particular pattern of
President's Flag conforms to the Navy style of
President's Flag of the period of 1916-1946. President's flags are made to be flown when the
President of the United States is present. This
particular example is an United States Navy No. 6 Sized
President's flag. It descended in the family of a
submarine captain who served during World War II on
patrol of the United States' East Coast. The flag
was most likely issued to his submarine, and would have
been flown on occasion of a visit by the President to
the vessel. I'm unsure whether or not all ships
received such flags, but their extreme rarity and very
expensive construction leads me to believe that they
were only issued or used if there was a likelihood of a
Presidential visit. President Woodrow Wilson
noticed in a military parade during his administration
that the Army and the Navy, when passing in review, flew
different styles of the President's flag. He
decided to combine aspects of both flags into a single
design, and to decide on the final style, he asked for
input from then Secretary of the Navy Byron McCandless
and Assistant Secretary of the Navy (and future
president) Franklin Roosevelt. Their input led to
the design of this flag. Ironically, Roosevelt
himself would serve as President under the flag that he
himself helped to design. The Great Seal eagle of
this flag is entirely hand embroidered, and is a
beautiful example of the finest quality embroidery. Although there is some speculation as to whether or not
the eagle of the Great Seal faces the arrows in times of
war, and the olive branches in times of peace, I'm
unaware of any official policy to this affect, despite
the fact that this flag was likely made during wartime. While our national flag represents our nation, and
military flags represent the particular military units,
an executive flags such as this is official
representation of the executive office of the President
of the United States, made to represent a single person
of a single office. They are beautiful and rare.
References:
- Stars and Stripes, Patriotic Motifs in American Folk
Art, by Deborah Harding, 2002, Rizzoli Publishing,
New York, p. 24. |
