Sec. 1. - Flag; stripes and stars
on
The flag of the United States shall be thirteen
horizontal stripes, alternate red and white; and the union of the flag
shall be fifty stars, white in a blue field.
Sec. 2. - Same; additional
stars
On the admission of a new State into the Union
one star shall be added to the union of the flag; and such addition shall
take effect on the fourth day of July then next succeeding such admission.
Sec. 3. - Use of flag for
advertising purposes; mutilation of flag
Any person who, within the District of Columbia,
in any manner, for exhibition or display, shall place or cause to be
placed any word, figure, mark, picture, design, drawing, or any
advertisement of any nature upon any flag, standard, colors, or ensign of
the United States of America; or shall expose or cause to be exposed to
public view any such flag, standard, colors, or ensign upon which shall
have been printed, painted, or otherwise placed, or to which shall be
attached, appended, affixed, or annexed any word, figure, mark, picture,
design, or drawing, or any advertisement of any nature; or who, within the
District of Columbia, shall manufacture, sell, expose for sale, or to
public view, or give away or have in possession for sale, or to be given
away or for use for any purpose, any article or substance being an article
of merchandise, or a receptacle for merchandise or article or thing for
carrying or transporting merchandise, upon which shall have been printed,
painted, attached, or otherwise placed a representation of any such flag,
standard, colors, or ensign, to advertise, call attention to, decorate,
mark, or distinguish the article or substance on which so placed shall be
deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine not
exceeding $100 or by imprisonment for not more than thirty days, or both,
in the discretion of the court. The words ''flag, standard, colors, or
ensign'', as used herein, shall include any flag, standard, colors,
ensign, or any picture or representation of either, or of any part or
parts of either, made of any substance or represented on any substance, of
any size evidently purporting to be either of said flag, standard, colors,
or ensign of the United States of America or a picture or a representation
of either, upon which shall be shown the colors, the stars and the
stripes, in any number of either thereof, or of any part or parts of
either, by which the average person seeing the same without deliberation
may believe the same to represent the flag, colors, standard, or ensign of
the United States of America.
Sec. 4. - Pledge of allegiance to
the flag; manner of delivery
The Pledge of Allegiance to the
Flag, I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America,
and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
The Pledge Of Allegiance should be rendered by
standing at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart.
When not in uniform men should remove their headdress with their right
hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart.
Persons in uniform should remain silent, face the flag, and render the
military salute.
Sec. 5. - Display and use of
flag by civilians; codification of rules and customs; definition
The following codification of existing rules and
customs pertaining to the display and use of the flag of the United States
of America is established for the use of such civilians or civilian groups
or organizations as may not be required to conform with regulations
promulgated by one or more executive departments of the Government of the
United States. The flag of the United States for the purpose of this
chapter shall be defined according to sections 1 and 2 of this title and
Executive Order 10834 issued pursuant thereto
Sec. 6. - Time and occasions for
display
(a) It is the universal custom to
display the flag only from sunrise to sunset on buildings and on
stationary flagstaffs in the open. However, when a patriotic effect is
desired, the flag may be displayed 24 hours a day if properly illuminated
during the hours of darkness.
(b) The flag should be hoisted briskly
and lowered ceremoniously.
(c) The flag should not be displayed on
days when the weather is inclement, except when an all weather flag is
displayed.
(d) The flag should be displayed on all
days, especially on New Year's Day, January 1
Inauguration Day, January 20
Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, third
Monday in January
Lincoln's Birthday, February 12
Washington's Birthday, third Monday in
February
Easter Sunday (variable)
Mother's Day, second Sunday in May
Armed Forces Day, third Saturday in May
Memorial Day (half-staff until noon),
the last Monday in May
Flag Day, June 14
Independence Day, July 4
Labor Day, first Monday in September
Constitution Day, September 17
Columbus Day, second Monday in October
Navy Day, October 27
Veterans Day, November 11
Thanksgiving Day, fourth Thursday in
November
Christmas Day, December 25; and such
other days as may be proclaimed by the President of the United States; the
birthdays of States (date of admission); and on State holidays.
(e) The flag should be displayed daily
on or near the main administration building of every public institution.
(f) The flag should be displayed in or
near every polling place on election days.
(g) The flag should be displayed during
school days in or near every schoolhouse.
* Out of courtesy on the anniversary of September 11, 2001. For the family and the people who lost their lives in the World Trade Center, Pentagon, and all people who were aboard the flights that day. Flag should be flown at half mast. SEPTEMBER 11
* Not officially part of the US FLAG CODE As of yet.
Sec. 7. - Position and manner of
display
The flag, when carried in a procession with
another flag or flags, should be either on the marching right; that is,
the flag's own right, or, if there is a line of other flags, in front of
the center of that line.
(a) The flag should not be displayed on a float
in a parade except from a staff, or as provided in subsection (i) of this
section.
(b) The flag should not be draped over the hood,
top, sides, or back of a vehicle or of a railroad train or a boat. When
the flag is displayed on a motorcar, the staff shall be fixed firmly to
the chassis or clamped to the right fender.
(c) No other flag or pennant should be placed
above or, if on the same level, to the right of the flag of the United
States of America, except during church services conducted by naval
chaplains at sea, when the church pennant may be flown above the flag
during church services for the personnel of the Navy. No person shall
display the flag of the United Nations or any other national or
international flag equal, above, or in a position of superior prominence
or honor to, or in place of, the flag of the United States at any place
within the United States or any Territory or possession thereof: Provided,
That nothing in this section shall make unlawful the continuance of the
practice heretofore followed of displaying the flag of the United Nations
in a position of superior prominence or honor, and other national flags in
positions of equal prominence or honor, with that of the flag of the
United States at the headquarters of the United Nations.
(d) The flag of the United States of America,
when it is displayed with another flag against a wall from crossed staffs,
should be on the right, the flag's own right, and its staff should be in
front of the staff of the other flag.
(e) The flag of the United States of America
should be at the center and at the highest point of the group when a
number of flags of States or localities or pennants of societies are
grouped and displayed from staffs.
(f) When flags of States, cities, or localities,
or pennants of societies are flown on the same halyard with the flag of
the United States, the latter should always be at the peak. When the flags
are flown from adjacent staffs, the flag of the United States should be
hoisted first and lowered last. No such flag or pennant may be placed
above the flag of the United States or to the United States flag's right.
(g) When flags of two or more nations are
displayed, they are to be flown from separate staffs of the same height.
The flags should be of approximately equal size. International usage
forbids the display of the flag of one nation above that of another nation
in time of peace.
(h) When the flag of the United States is
displayed from a staff projecting horizontally or at an angle from the
window sill, balcony, or front of a building, the union of the flag should
be placed at the peak of the staff unless the flag is at half-staff. When
the flag is suspended over a sidewalk from a rope extending from a house
to a pole at the edge of the sidewalk, the flag should be hoisted out,
union first, from the building.
(i) When displayed either horizontally or
vertically against a wall, the union should be uppermost and to the flag's
own right, that is, to the observer's left. When displayed in a window,
the flag should be displayed in the same way, with the union or blue field
to the left of the observer in the street.
(j) When the flag is displayed over the middle of
the street, it should be suspended vertically with the union to the north
in an east and west street or to the east in a north and south street.
(k) When used on a speaker's platform, the flag,
if displayed flat, should be displayed above and behind the speaker. When
displayed from a staff in a church or public auditorium, the flag of the
United States of America should hold the position of superior prominence,
in advance of the audience, and in the position of honor at the
clergyman's or speaker's right as he faces the audience. Any other flag so
displayed should be placed on the left of the clergyman or speaker or to
the right of the audience.
(l) The flag should form a distinctive feature of
the ceremony of unveiling a statue or monument, but it should never be
used as the covering for the statue or monument.
(m) The flag, when flown at half-staff, should be
first hoisted to the peak for an instant and then lowered to the
half-staff position. The flag should be again raised to the peak before it
is lowered for the day. On Memorial Day the flag should be displayed at
half-staff until noon only, then raised to the top of the staff. By order
of the President, the flag shall be flown at half-staff upon the death of
principal figures of the United States Government and the Governor of a
State, territory, or possession, as a mark of respect to their memory. In
the event of the death of other officials or foreign dignitaries, the flag
is to be displayed at half-staff according to Presidential instructions or
orders, or in accordance with recognized customs or practices not
inconsistent with law. In the event of the death of a present or former
official of the government of any State, territory, or possession of the
United States, the Governor of that State, territory, or possession may
proclaim that the National flag shall be flown at half-staff. The flag
shall be flown at half-staff 30 days from the death of the President or a
former President; 10 days from the day of death of the Vice President, the
Chief Justice or a retired Chief Justice of the United States, or the
Speaker of the House of Representatives; from the day of death until
interment of an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, a Secretary of an
executive or military department, a former Vice President, or the Governor
of a State, territory, or possession; and on the day of death and the
following day for a Member of Congress. The flag shall be flown at
half-staff on Peace Officers Memorial Day, unless that day is also Armed
Forces Day. As used in this subsection -
(1) The term ''half-staff'' means the position
of the flag when it is one-half the distance between the top and bottom
of the staff;
(2) The term ''executive or military
department'' means any agency listed under sections 101 and 102 of title
5, United States Code; and
(3) The term ''Member of Congress'' means a
Senator, a Representative, a Delegate, or the Resident Commissioner from
Puerto Rico.
(n) When the flag is used to cover a casket, it
should be so placed that the union is at the head and over the left
shoulder. The flag should not be lowered into the grave or allowed to
touch the ground.
(o) When the flag is suspended across a corridor
or lobby in a building with only one main entrance, it should be suspended
vertically with the union of the flag to the observer's left upon
entering. If the building has more than one main entrance, the flag should
be suspended vertically near the center of the corridor or lobby with the
union to the north, when entrances are to the east and west or to the east
when entrances are to the north and south. If there are entrances in more
than two directions, the union should be to the east.
Sec. 8. - Respect for flag
No disrespect should be shown to the flag of the
United States of America; the flag should not be dipped to any person or
thing. Regimental colors, State flags, and organization or institutional
flags are to be dipped as a mark of honor.
(a) The flag should never be displayed with the
union down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme
danger to life or property.
(b) The flag should never touch anything beneath
it, such as the ground, the floor, water, or merchandise.
(c) The flag should never be carried flat or
horizontally, but always aloft and free.
(d) The flag should never be used as wearing
apparel, bedding, or drapery. It should never be festooned, drawn back,
nor up, in folds, but always allowed to fall free. Bunting of blue, white,
and red, always arranged with the blue above, the white in the middle, and
the red below, should be used for covering a speaker's desk, draping the
front of the platform, and for decoration in general.
(e) The flag should never be fastened, displayed,
used, or stored in such a manner as to permit it to be easily torn,
soiled, or damaged in any way.
(f) The flag should never be used as a covering
for a ceiling.
(g) The flag should never have placed upon it,
nor on any part of it, nor attached to it any mark, insignia, letter,
word, figure, design, picture, or drawing of any nature.
(h) The flag should never be used as a receptacle
for receiving, holding, carrying, or delivering anything.
(i) The flag should never be used for advertising
purposes in any manner whatsoever. It should not be embroidered on such
articles as cushions or handkerchiefs and the like, printed or otherwise
impressed on paper napkins or boxes or anything that is designed for
temporary use and discard. Advertising signs should not be fastened to a
staff or halyard from which the flag is flown.
(j) No part of the flag should ever be used as a
costume or athletic uniform. However, a flag patch may be affixed to the
uniform of military personnel, firemen, policemen, and members of
patriotic organizations. The flag represents a living country and is
itself considered a living thing. Therefore, the lapel flag pin being a
replica, should be worn on the left lapel near the heart.
(k) The flag, when it is in such condition that
it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, should be destroyed in a
dignified way, preferably by burning.
Sec. 9. - Conduct during hoisting,
lowering or passing of flag
During the ceremony of hoisting or lowering the
flag or when the flag is passing in a parade or in review, all persons
present except those in uniform should face the flag and stand at
attention with the right hand over the heart. Those present in uniform
should render the military salute. When not in uniform, men should remove
their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder,
the hand being over the heart. Aliens should stand at attention. The
salute to the flag in a moving column should be rendered at the moment the
flag passes.
Sec. 10. - Modification of rules
and customs by President
Any rule or custom pertaining to the display of
the flag of the United States of America, set forth herein, may be
altered, modified, or repealed, or additional rules with respect thereto
may be prescribed, by the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the
United States, whenever he deems it to be appropriate or desirable; and
any such alteration or additional rule shall be set forth in a
proclamation.
Displaying the Flag
