U.S. Vice Presidential Flag - Lyndon Baines Johnson.
This embroidered, United States Vice Presidential automobile flag was manufactured at the Philadelphia Quartermaster Depot. Lyndon Baines Johnson, the 37th Vice President of the U.S, who served President John F. Kennedy from January 20, 1961 to November 22, 1963, used it.
Vice Presidential flags of this type were designed in 1947; the American bald eagle was still the central feature, but smaller, held only one arrow and a small olive twig; had its wings in a submissive position and was surrounded by 13 small blue stars. It was meant to be a complete contrast to the seal and flag of the U.S. president and in that, it succeeded very well. U.S. vice presidents generally disliked it. Vice President after Vice President expressed their discontent with the design of this flag, particularly the down swept wings, which Vice President Johnson said made the bird look "droopy and Vice President Hubert Humphrey who said that, the eagle looked like a wounded quail.
Lyndon Baines Johnson was the Vice President for a little over two years, and as a result flags from his tenure are quite rare. Johnson took on numerous minor diplomatic missions, which required the use of similar flags. Automobile flags would also have been used on trips home to Texas, and his numerous trips to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston and Cape Canaveral in Florida, which he undertook as chairman of the President's Ad Hoc Committee for Science which oversaw NASA and Project Apollo.
This rare U.S. Vice Presidential flag was formerly part of the Presidential flag collection of the noted presidential scholar Mr. Harold Lubick. The Harold Lubick Collection of United States Command Authority flags were assembled from a variety of sources over a thirty-year period of collecting. The collection attempts to represent an example of each of the major types of regulation flags and colors displayed by all flags officers; civilian and military, utilized by the command authority of the United States. The Harold Lubick Collection is the largest and (while not complete) the most comprehensive collection of the command authority flags in existence outside of repositories designated by the Defense Department.
NOTE: In 1975, Vice President Nelson Rockefeller prevailed upon President Gerald Ford to order a change, which was promulgated by Executive Order 11884 of October 7, 1975. The new flag, still in use, is white with the same coat of arms shown on the President's flag, and a blue star in each
The Vice Presidents who utilized flags of this type were:
Allen Barkley (1949-1953)
Richard Nixon (1953-1961)
Lyndon B. Johnson (1961-1963)
Hubert Humphrey (1965-1969)
Spiro Agnew (1969-1973)
Gerald Ford (1973-1974)
Nelson Rockefeller (1974-1977).
Exhibition History:
Private Showing
Night of Flags
In celebration of George Washington's Birthday
The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in California
Patriotic Services Committee
James Ferrigan, Curator, Flag Center
Ben Zaricor, Director, Flag Center
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Octagon House, San Francisco
5:30pm - 7:30pm
Private Exhibition
Washington Flag Congress, 2011
24th International Congress of Vexillology and
45th annual meeting of the North American Vexillological Association.
Washington, DC & Alexandria, VA
July 31-August 6, 2011
This was a power point slide presentation on the period 13 star flag and Presidential flags in the Flag Center/Zaricor Flag Collection and comments by Ben Zaricor wherein the image of this flag was displayed.
Provenance:
• Made by Philadelphia Quartermaster Depot.
• Used by Vice President Lyndon Johnson during Kennedy Administration, 1961-1963.
• Acquired by an LBJ White House Staff member.
• Acquired by Dr. Harold Lubick.
• Purchased by private treaty from Dr. Harold Lubick, 2008.
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