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Flag Day and National Flag Week, 1982
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289871073
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Flag Day and National Flag Week, 1982
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Proclamations Files
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Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
Digital Library Collections
This is a PDF of a folder from our textual collections.
Collection: Correspondence, White House Office of:
Records, 1981-89
Folder Title: Flag Day and National Flag Week
Box: 71 (1982)
To see more digitized collections visit:
https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/digitized-textual-material
To see all Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Inventories, visit:
https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/white-house-inventories
Contact a reference archivist at: [email protected]
Citation Guidelines: https://reaganlibrary.gov/archives/research-
support/citation-guide
National Archives Catalogue: https://catalog.archives.gov/
Last Updated: 05/3/2023
DEPARTMENT THE OF the UNITED
NO
SEE
STATES
Flag Day and National Flag Week, 1982
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
Two hundred seven years ago, in June 1775, the first distinctive American
flags to be used in battle were flown over the colonial defenses at the Battle of
Bunker Hill. One flag was an adaptation of the British "Blue Ensign" while the
other was a new design. Both flags bore a symbol reflecting the experience of
Americans who had wrested their land from the great forests: the pine tree.
At the same time, as the colonies moved toward a final break with the mother
country, other flags appeared. At least two of them featured a rattlesnake,
symbolizing vigilance and deadly striking power. Each of these bore a legend.
One was "Liberty or Death," and the other was "Don't Tread on Me." The
Grand Union Flag was raised over Washington's Continental Army headquar-
ters on January 1, 1776. It displayed not only the British crosses of St. George
and St. Andrew but also thirteen red and white stripes to symbolize the
American colonies. In 1776, the Bennington flag appeared. Its design included
thirteen stars, thirteen stripes, and the number "76".
On June 14, 1777, two years after the Battle of Bunker Hill, the Continental
Congress chose a flag which expressed very directly the unity and resolve of
the colonies which had banded together to seek independence. The delegates
voted "that the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate
red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field represent-
ing a new constellation."
After more than two centuries, the flag chosen by the Continental Congress on
that June day in Philadelphia still flies today over our Nation, symbolizing a
shared commitment to freedom and equality and altered only to reflect our
growth to fifty states with the gradual addition of thirty-seven more white
stars.
To commemorate the adoption of our flag, the Congress by a joint resolution
approved August 3, 1949 (63 Stat. 492), designated June 14 of each year as Flag
Day and requested the President to issue an annual proclamation calling for
its observance and the display of the flag of the United States on all
Government buildings. The Congress also requested the President by joint
resolution approved June 9, 1966 (80 Stat. 194), to issue annually a proclama-
tion designating the week in which June 14 occurs as National Flag Week and
calling upon all citizens of the United States to display the flag during that
week.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, RONALD REAGAN, President of the United States of
America, do hereby designate June 14, 1982, as Flag Day and the week
beginning June 13, 1982, as National Flag Week, and I direct the appropriate
officials of the Government to display the flag on all Government buildings
during that week. I urge all Americans to observe Flag Day, June 14, and Flag
Week by flying the Stars and Stripes from their homes and other suitable
places.
I also urge the American people to celebrate those days from Flag Day through
Independence Day, set aside by Congress as a time to honor America (89 Stat.
211), by having public gatherings and activities at which they can honor their
country in an appropriate manner,
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 4th. day of May in
the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-two, and of the Independ-
ence of the United States of America the two hundred and sixth.
Ronald Reagan