Why Do We Fly Flags At Half-Staff? | Answers With Joe
发布时间 2015-09-21 20:19:50 来源
摘要
Do you freak out whenever you see flags at half-staff? Immediately grab your phone and try to figure out what disaster occurred? You're not alone. Here, I explain why we fly flags at half mast, when, and what it means.
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Link to the Politifact article referenced in the video:
http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/article/2015/jul/22/half-truths-white-house-half-staff-flag-controvers/
Of the four federal holidays when the flag is lowered, the most well-known is Memorial Day.
Memorial Day is one of our oldest federal holidays, it was started in 1868 as a way to honor the dead of the Civil War.
Memorial Day is unique because the tradition is to lower the flag before noon but raise it to the top for the rest of the day.
This was done to honor the dead in the morning and celebrate the survivors in the afternoon.
Eventually, surviving veterans got their own day, Veterans Day, in 1954, and from that point on the symbolism was about honoring the sacrifice in the morning and raise it in the afternoon to represent hope.
The other three standing holidays are Peace Officers Memorial Day, Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day and the most recent one, 9/11, which is sometimes called Patriots Day.
The main reason for the lowering of the flag is the death of high level officials. So here’s how it breaks down:
Members of congress have the flag lowered on the day of their death and the following day.
Associate Supreme Court justices have the flag lowered from the day of their death until their funeral.
Current vice presidents and Speakers of the house get a full 10 days, as do a sitting or former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
But we really pull out all the stops for the President. Sitting or former, presidents get a full 30 days when they die. The last time that happened was Gerald Ford in 2006.
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