Flag Day 2020

On this day in 1777 the Second Continental Congress adopted a design for the flag of the United States. This year we celebrate the centennial of President Woodrow Wilson's proclamation officially establishing June 14 as Flag Day.

The original Star Spangled Banner, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand

Between their loved home and the war's desolation!

Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land

Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,

And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Verse 4, The Star Spangled Banner, Francis Scott Key

There are any number of song written about our national flag. Among the best of them is George M. Cohan's 1906 rouser, "Your A Grand Old Flag," written in 1906 for his musical, George Washington, Jr. It's performed here by the Muppets from sesame Street as the opening number of 2019'a A Capitol Fourth celebration on the Mall in Washington.