Saluting the flag

President Harry S. Truman designated 14 June as Flag Day in 1949, but the holiday's roots go much further back. In 1885, Bernard J. Cigrand, a nineteen-year-old schoolteacher in Waubeka, Wisconsin, had his students write essays about what the flag meant to them. A year later, as a dental student in Lake Forest, Illinois, he wrote an article titled The Fourteenth of June for the Chicago Argus newspaper; it was his first public proposal for the annual observance of the birth of the flag. In subsequent years, Cigrand wrote numerous newspaper and magazine articles and gave speeches advocating a special day to honor the flag. Other teachers, states' governors, congressmen, and even presidents lobbied for an official recognition of our flag.
Cigrand didn't live to see his dream come true, succumbing to a heart attack in 1932. Since it became law, the holiday has gained in popularity and the flag continues to be an important symbol of our patriotism.