The love Americans have for the American flag
There’s a new book out there - no, I haven’t read it yet but I will - about the American flag, it’s history and an exploration of why it is that American flags stir such passion in so many Americans. The title is, "Flag: An American Biography," and it’s author is Marc Leepson, who, among other things, is a Viet Nam Vet.
Leepson was inspired by the story of Michael Christian, a Navy Pilot who was shot down over North Viet Nam and wound up in the infamous "Hanoi Hilton" prison camp. Using scraps of cloth, Christian sewed a small American flag on the inside of his prison shirt. Every day, he and his cell mates, including John McCain, would say the Pledge of Allegiance to the little American flag. His flag was eventually discovered and Christian was severely beaten, but that didn’t stop him - he just made another flag.
Leepson often wondered about Christian and his dedication to the American flag, "After all, it’s cloth. It’s a piece of cloth. But obviously it’s much more than a piece of cloth. That got me thinking, ‘What more is behind this?’ "
In the introduction of his book, Leepson says, "Americans have a unique and special feeling for our flag. And that’s putting it mildly. … No country in the world can match the intensity of the American citizenry’s attachment to the 50-star, 13-stripe Stars and Stripes, which is as familiar an icon as any that has existed in the nation’s history."
Joyce Doody of the National Flag Foundation agrees and notes that many visitors to the United States are amazed at how many American flags can be seen flying. She goes on to say that in many countries, "it’s more a symbol of the government, not the people."
And there’s the nub of it. The unique thing about the United States is that we truly are, as Abraham Lincoln so aptly said, a "government of the people, by the people and for the people." Americans love their American flags because of who we are as a nation.