The American flag over the White House is often treated as timeless—proof of national unity. But it didn’t start that way. From the early days of the Executive Mansion without a permanent flag to major Civil War ceremonies and later daily traditions authorized
When Americans look up at the White House, they expect the flag to be there. It’s the kind of sight that feels permanent—yet the story of how the Stars and Stripes became a daily presence over 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is anything but simple.
Approaching the United States’ 250th anniversary of independence this summer. Americans will likely see flags everywhere: above town squares. on front porches. at ball fields and on government buildings. Few, though, have the weight of the one flying above the president’s home. For generations, it has marked celebration and mourning, war and peace, continuity and change. But the White House didn’t always display an American flag in the way people now assume.
In November 1800. when President John Adams became the first resident of the newly completed Executive Mansion. there was no permanent flag flying above the building. At the time, the White House was viewed primarily as the president’s residence. The national flag was more likely to show up at military forts. aboard naval vessels. or during public celebrations—rather than over the president’s home.
Over the next several decades, that began to change as the presidency became more visible and as the White House itself grew into a larger place in American public life.
During the Civil War. the White House started to function as a visible symbol of stability at a moment when the future of the Union remained uncertain. In June 1861—only months after the outbreak of war—President Abraham Lincoln joined members of his Cabinet. soldiers. citizens and the U.S. Marine Band on the White House South Lawn to raise the American flag on a newly installed wooden flagpole.
The flag had come from the USS Freeborn, a naval vessel that had recently seen action against Confederate forces. The ceremony signaled Lincoln’s determination to preserve the Union and helped make the White House more visibly tied to that effort. Soon, the flag would take on another meaning too: national remembrance.
When former President Ulysses S. Grant died in July 1885, President Grover Cleveland ordered the White House flag—holding 38 stars since July 4, 1877—lowered to half-staff. For people in the nation’s capital. the sight of the lowered flag was among the first indications that the nation had gone into mourning. Newspapers reported the gesture nationwide.
By the 20th century, the flag’s function as a signal only deepened. During two world wars. photographs of the White House framed by the American flag became reminders of national unity and determination. When President Franklin D. Roosevelt died in office in April 1945. images of the White House flag at half-staff ran widely in newspapers. marking the loss of a leader who guided the nation through the Great Depression and most of World War II.
What began as a marker of presidential presence didn’t immediately become a permanent feature. For many years, the flag flew only when the president was in residence. Eventually, it became a daily fixture. In 1970, President Richard Nixon authorized the American flag to remain flying around the clock, weather permitting.
That shift moved the symbol from something temporary and tied to the president’s physical presence to something built into the landscape of the White House itself.
The traditions around the flag have continued to evolve, and they land on something tangible when a president leaves office. In recent decades. as former Chief Usher Gary Walters described in his memoir. when a president departs the White House for the last time. members of the residence staff present him with two American flags: one that flew on Inauguration Day and another lowered on the president’s final day in office. Folded into the traditional triangular shape and presented in boxes crafted from original White House wood. the flags are meant to serve as tangible reminders of a president’s time at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Over time, the White House flag also became part of how the building speaks to the world. In 2025, President Donald Trump added two 88-foot-tall flagpoles to the White House grounds—one on the north lawn and one on the south lawn—joining the flag that flies atop the Executive Mansion.
While the flagpole above the White House is almost always reserved for the Stars and Stripes. special occasions have prompted exceptions. In July 1918, the Serbian flag flew alongside the American flag in recognition of Serbia’s wartime sacrifices. Two years later, in July 1920, the French tricolor was raised for Bastille Day, reflecting America’s longstanding ties to France.
During state visits, the White House grounds are often adorned with American flags and the flags of visiting nations, creating some of the most recognizable images of presidential hospitality and international relations.
Even the flag itself has changed. The 50-star flag was officially raised on July 4, 1960, after Hawaii joined the Union. Every president from Dwight D. Eisenhower’s final months in office to the present day has served under the same version of the American flag. Now the longest-serving flag design in U.S. history. it has flown above the White House for more than six decades—spanning the Cold War. the Space Age and the end of the 20th century.
The practical effect for today’s visitors is simple: as they gather along Pennsylvania Avenue or look across the south lawn. they keep turning their attention upward. There. at the nation’s most famous home. the Grand Old Flag remains a symbol of freedom and democracy—one that became a constant only after years of ceremonies. grief. political transitions. and deliberate decisions about what the White House should visibly represent.
White House flag American flag history John Adams Abraham Lincoln Ulysses S. Grant Grover Cleveland Franklin D. Roosevelt Richard Nixon Donald Trump flagpoles Pennsylvania Avenue U.S. history presidential symbols