Celebration honors stars, stripes
June 14 is Flag Day, which was celebrated long before Congress passed a resolution in 1949 that designated the date as Flag Day and called on the president to issue a proclamation each year. Below are the words that President Harry S. Truman signed for Flag Day 1950:
WHEREAS the annual celebration of the birthday of our flag is a cherished national custom; and
WHEREAS the Congress, by a joint resolution approved August 3, 1949 (63 Stat. 492), has designated June 14 of each year as Flag Day, and has requested the President to
issue annually a proclamation calling for the observance of that day; and
WHEREAS the flag arouses in the hearts of Americans deep sentiments of gratitude for the freedom it symbolizes and for the protection from tyranny it assures:
NOW, THEREFORE, I, HARRY S. TRUMAN, President of the United States of America, do hereby call upon the appropriate officials of the Federal Government, and of the State and local Governments, to arrange for the display of the flag of our Republic on all public buildings on Flag Day, June 14, 1950; and I urge the people of our Nation to observe that day as the anniversary of the adoption on June 14, 1777, by the Continental Congress, of the Stars and Stripes as the official flag of the United States of America, by flying the flag at their homes or other suitable places and by participating in ceremonies especially designed to honor our national emblem.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States of America to be affixed.
DONE at the City of Washington this 27th day of May in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and fifty, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and seventy-fourth.