The flag of the president of the United States consists of the presidential seal on a dark blue background. While having the same design as the presidential seal since 1945, the flag has a separate history, and the designs on the flag and seal have at different times influenced each other. The flag is often displayed near the president in official photos, or flown next to the casket of a former president in official funeral processions, and flown on the president's motorcade. The flag is not flown at half-staff since there is always an incumbent president in office. Unlike some head of state standards, the presidential flag does not fly on the White House flag pole instead of the national flag when the president is in residence; the flag of the United States continuously flies over the White House whether the president is at home or not.Presidential Proclamation No. 4000, September 4, 1970.
Early presidential flags
During the committee discussions which eventually led to the Flag Act of 1818, an additional flag was proposed which was to indicate the president's presence at places he visited. The design divided the flag into four quarters (like the British royal standard): the upper left was the white stars on a blue background (same as the national flag); the lower left had a Goddess of Liberty on a white background; the upper right had an eagle emblem on a white background, and the lower right had the thirteen red and white stripes. This flag was not seriously considered and was not adopted. Samuel Chester Reid, who proposed this design, made a drawing of it years later which showed the eagle and Liberty in switched positions, and had the stars arranged in a larger star. Reid was the person who at the time suggested the 13-stripes and stars-for-each-state design for the U.S. flag, and also proposed another government flag with the eagle in the canton instead of the stars (to distinguish government from merchant vessels) and a national cockade, neither of which were adopted. Reid's arrangement of the stars was however on the first 20-star flag made under the 1818 law, but the custom of using horizontal rows was soon adopted. Reid's sketches can be seen in this image.
It is possible that distinctive flags were occasionally used to represent the president on individual occasions; there are claims that a special flag was used during a trip by President Jackson to New York City in 1832, and a description of a "square, plain blue flag" used on a boat in the Brooklyn naval yard while transporting President Martin Van Buren on July 15, 1839.Danbury times, July 10, 1839, p.3
An 1848 British flag book by John William Norie, and also the 1853 The Illustrated London Geography by Joseph Guy, have similar illustrations of a flag labeled as being the U.S. president's flag. Norie (who died in 1843) had published a similar book in 1842; this flag may have been copied from that work. Neither book reveals any further information about this flag, and such a flag is not mentioned in the Army Institute of Heraldry's detailed page on presidential flags nor other books on the flag's history. The design is simply a version of the national coat of arms (i.e. the obverse of the Great Seal), which was a common motif for flags representing heads of state and also the same basic concept used in the later presidential flag of the Navy. Both depictions also use an arc of clouds for the crest, a style which was later (and still is) used on the presidential seal. The 1848 book shows a 26-star U.S. flag, which was in use from 1837 to 1845 (the depicted presidential flag also has 26 stars).
As the president is Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, each service developed its own tradition of honoring the president, which eventually led each to design their own presidential flag. This did not happen until the late 19th century however, and the Navy at first used existing flags for their ceremonies.
The first record in regulations to prescribe a flag for the president was the 1858 Signals for the Use of the United States Navy, which specified that the union jack (the canton of the national flag by itself, i.e. blue with white stars for all the states) should be flown at the mainmast to signify the presence of the commander-in-chief. In 1863, this was changed to use the national flag instead, but in 1864 was reverted so that once again the jack was used. The Naval Regulations of April 18, 1865, switched back to use the national flag, specifying it should be flown both from the mainmast while the president is aboard a ship, and also on the bow of boats on which he embarks. The 1866 Naval Signal Code (possibly not in effect until 1867) changed back to use the union flag, and on December 31, 1869, the change was reverted yet again, with the national ensign being flown on a ship while the president was aboard. This practice continued until 1882.
1882 Navy flag
In the spring of 1882, Chester Arthur noted that the heads of state of many other countries had their own flag, but the president of the United States did not. His cabinet agreed, and Arthur himself apparently decided on the final design. On August 9, 1882, the Navy issued the order: "The flag of the President of the United States shall consist of a blue ground with arms of the United States in the center, and shall be of the dimensions prescribed for the admiral's flag []. The flag shall be hoisted at the main of vessels of war while the President is on board, and shall be carried in the bow of his boat."
An illustration of the flag was published in the 1882 Flags of Maritime Nations, a Navy publication. As this was before the 1885 redesign of the Great Seal, this flag showed an eagle with bent legs, somewhat like the Great Seal design at the time. The crest of the coat of arms was omitted however, and instead an arc of thirteen stars was used, above the eagle and on either side of the wings. The eagle, arrows, and olive branch were all in white.The Eagle and the Shield, p. 433
The flag was first used by Arthur on a trip to Florida in 1883. It was used primarily aboard boats, such as on the presidential yacht USS Dolphin in 1893 for a naval fleet review during celebrations related to the 400th anniversary of Columbus. There were some exceptions though, such as during the centennial of Washington's inauguration in 1889, and by a hotel proprietor during a presidential trip to New York City in 1897.
At some point before the turn of the century (possibly in 1897; the 1899 Flags of Maritime Nations showed the new version), the design on the flag was changed to match the Tiffany design of the Great Seal and be in full color. The text of the naval orders did not change, as this was a change in the coat of arms itself. This design was used by the Navy until 1916.
1898 Army flag
In early 1898, in the lead up to the Spanish–American War and following its first flag for an individual (the Secretary of War) in 1897, it was noted that the Army did not have its own flag for the President, the Commander-in-Chief. The Navy flag was too similar to the Army infantry flag (which was also primarily the Great Seal on a blue background), so a different design was needed.
Frederick D. Owen, an engineer working in the War Department, came up with a flag which met the approval of Secretary of War Alger and President McKinley. Owen's flag was officially adopted by General Orders No. 13 on March 28, 1898. The order specified both a presidential flag, and a presidential color of the same design. The color was more meant for ceremonial purposes, was smaller than the flag, made of silk, and had a gold and silver fringed border. The dimensions of the flag were , and the dimensions of the color were .The Eagle and the Shield, pp. 433–434
The flag was scarlet, with a large blue star in the middle outlined in white which contained the Great Seal. There were four white stars, one in each corner, and scattered between the angles of the large central star were 45 small white stars, representing the 45 states. This flag was placed in the cabinet room in the White House during the war, and was first shown in public during peace jubilee celebrations in Chicago and Philadelphia in October, 1898.
In 1908, following the admission of Oklahoma as a state, a 46th star was added at the bottom. One of these flags was given to Theodore Roosevelt as a gift, and one hangs today in Roosevelt's home at Sagamore Hill.
1902 flag
In March 1901, the German naval attaché in Washington inquired as to the proper use of the flags when rendering honors abroad, as having two flags to represent a head of state was a unique situation. After discussions, and perhaps influenced by Secretary of State John Hay who noted that the Navy flag had come first and claimed that McKinley had never approved the Army version,The Eagle and the Shield, p. 434 notes President Roosevelt decided that there should only be one official flag for the president and chose the Navy's version. On November 12, 1901, Roosevelt's secretary sent out a letter with the decision, saying it was primarily because the Navy flag was older. While the Army later updated its regulations to use the Navy design for its flag, they retained their own definition of the presidential color, so its design lived on and was still used in many situations.The Eagle and the Shield, p. 434
Subsequently, a third flag was designed and introduced in May 1902. This flag also showed the Great Seal on a blue background, like the Navy flag, but the eagle, scroll, and arrows were depicted in pure white outlined in black. The crest above the eagle's head was also different; instead of a ring of clouds the constellation of stars was only surrounded by a circular set of rays. This flag was supposedly to be used in times of peace only, with the original two flags still being used by their respective services in times of war. Several photos show this design was in fact used, such as at a Columbus Day celebration in 1912, on the presidential yacht Mayflower during a naval review in New York Harbor on October 14, 1912, and and in a 1914 magazine article about the flag-making operation at the New York Navy Yard, where the flag is described as taking a full month to make (the longest of any of their flags). However, the Navy flag with the full-color eagle was also used during this period, as seen in photographs during the July 1911 groundbreaking for the Panama–California Exposition. and
1912 Army color
In 1912, President Taft appointed a Flag Board to discuss aspects of the upcoming 48-star flag. As part of their recommendations, they noted that there were two official flags used for the president, though incorrectly stating the designs were identical except for the background color (red for the Army flag and blue for the Navy), and recommended that a single presidential flag be adopted. Taft subsequently issued Executive Order 1556 on June 24, 1912, and an updated Executive Order 1637 on October 29, which defined the precise dimensions of the 48-star flag. Both orders additionally state that "the color of the field of the President's Flag shall be blue". This left the Navy flag unchanged, but did force a change in the Army version, and so on February 20, 1913, an order was duly issued which switched the background of the Army presidential color to blue and the color of the star in the middle to scarlet. A 46th star had previously been added to the Army color in 1908, and the blue version was also updated to have 48 stars.
1916 flag