U.S. Flags on Inauguration Day
Last night, Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that flags at the state Capitol would temporarily fly at full height on Inauguration Day (January 20).
As of this writing (6:20 p.m. EST), California has joined at least thirteen other states: Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Utah, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. On that day, the flags at the U.S. Capitol will also be at full-staff.
They will lower the flag back to half-staff the following day to continue honoring President Jimmy Carter until January 29, the end of the 30 days of flying at half-staff.
However, many people have criticized the actions of these governors.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott pointed out that a federal statute states that the U.S. flag should be displayed "especially on Inauguration Day, January 20." The same statute mentions that it should be displayed on Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday on the third Monday in January (January 20).
I am scratching my head because the mass media have not mentioned what President Richard Nixon and Lady Bird Johnson did in February 1973. I guess I am older than the current media employees.
Statement About Display of the Flag in Honor of Returning Prisoners of War by President Richard Nixon on February 13, 1973.
TODAY begins the final week of national mourning for President Lyndon Johnson. This morning in a telephone conversation with Mrs. Johnson, we both remarked how much her husband would have liked to share in the moments of joy as our first prisoners of war return from Indochina.
Mrs. Johnson and I agreed that for the American flag to be flying high on the day that the first prisoners return to American soil would be the finest possible tribute both to her husband's memory and to the heroism of the prisoners and their families-as well as to the missing men, the men who gave their lives, and all who helped to win peace with honor in Vietnam.
I am therefore signing a proclamation [4188] this afternoon ordering the flag of the United States returned to full staff on the morning of the day they arrive in America.
In an earlier war, another American prisoner--Francis Scott Key--asked that stirring question whether the star-spangled banner yet waved "o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave." As our prisoners come home to America, let our answer be the same today as it was then.
On February 12, 1973, the "homecoming" of Vietnam War soldiers, specifically American prisoners of war (POWs), began with the operation known as "Operation Homecoming," during which the first batch of POWs was released by North Vietnam as part of the Paris Peace Accords, marking the start of their return to the United States.
The deep center was John McCain (later U.S. Senator from Arizona) waiting for the rest of the group to leave the bus at the airport after being released as a POW.
Watch the 3:18 video - OPERATION HOMECOMING: Going Home.
Try to stop this video above at the 0:10 mark and then look down at the picture.
Burst of Joy is a Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph by Associated Press photographer Slava “Sal” Veder. Three days before the picture was taken, Lt. Col. Robert L. Stirm received his wife's “Dear John” letter stating that she wanted a divorce.
So, let U.S. flags be raised to full staff on Inauguration Day