Flag of USA 48 stars (1912-1959)

New Mexico joined on 6 January 1912 and Arizona on 14 February — with that the contiguous territory was complete and the Union counted 48 states. This flag was in force for 47 years, longer than any other before the present one. It was the flag of the American forces in both world wars; under it the soldiers landed in Normandy in 1944, and it was raised on Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima in February 1945. Only in 1959 did its time end: Alaska brought the 49th star and Hawaii a year later the 50th — since then the flag has remained unchanged.

Meaning

The flag shows thirteen red and white stripes and in the blue canton 48 stars in six rows of eight. Its significance lies less in the pattern than in the arrangement: in 1912 President William Howard Taft laid down by executive order, for the first time in binding form, how the stars were to stand and in what proportions all parts of the flag relate to one another. For almost 140 years the law had fixed only the number of stars and left their placing to the maker; with this order the variety of designs came to an end. Every flag of the United States since, including today's with 50 stars, follows these rules.