The Eisenhower Flags
Learn about Presidential Flags
For the first time in history all six original flags from the White House during President Eisenhower’s administration were displayed together in a single exhibit from October 10 to 13, 2012 in Columbus, North Carolina.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
The 34th President of the United States (1953 to 1961), was the only President in our Nation’s history to serve under three different President’s flags. The exhibit included 48-star, 49-star, and 50-star President’s flags and the corresponding U.S. colors. The 50-star U.S. flag on display was the actual flag unveiled in the White House Cabinet Room when Hawaii became our 50th state.
Photographs of this historic exhibit are currently on display along with an evolving 300-page manuscript of the only book ever written on the “Evolution of the United States’ Presidential Flags 1817 to 1960” by Robert Williamson, Museum Curator/Director.
Historic Flags of the Eisenhower Oval Office
The flags were on loan from a private collection and from the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum in Abilene, Kansas. Historic 1940s and 1950s photographs of the hand embroidery flag making process from the U.S. Army Quartermaster Museum at Fort Lee, Virginia are also on display along with other press photos of Alaska and Hawaii statehood events.
The flags are on loan from a private collection and from the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum in Abilene, Kansas. Historic 1940s and 1950s photographs of the hand embroidery flag making process from the U.S. Army Quartermaster Museum at Fort Lee, Virginia will also be on display along with other press photos of Alaska and Hawaii statehood events.
One of a kind – The 49-star President’s Oval Office flag, hand made at the US Army Philadelphia Quartermaster Depot in 1958, will be on public display for the first time since leaving the White House in 1960. This priceless hand embroidered silk President’s flag featuring 49 stars may be the only one of its kind ever made. The 49-star flag was official for only one year – July 4th 1959 to July 4th 1960.
Rare two-sided needle-painting hand embroidery techniques are used to create these beautiful blue silk flags featuring a life-like eagle grasping olive branches and arrows with rays and clouds above; a red, white, and blue shield; plus a scrolled motto E Pluribus Unum surrounded by a circle of stars corresponding to the number of States. The perfectly mirrored designs are identical on both sides of the flag – the back side being seen only after the flag is complete. All three President’s flags are truly unique hand embroidered works of art with hand tied gold and silver precious metal fringe.
For additional information contact Robert M. Williamson, Director, House of Flags Museum by email at [email protected] by mail at PO Box 70, Columbus, NC 28722 phone messages can be left at 828-894-5640