June 14 Birthday
June 14 is Flag Day, commemorating the 1777 resolution by the Continental Congress adopting the Stars and Stripes as the national flag. The flag had thirteen stripes and thirteen stars on a blue field. No one knows who designed it — Betsy Ross's role was promoted by her grandson in 1870 and is not supported by contemporary evidence. Congress has changed the flag twenty-seven times as states were added. The current fifty-star design was created by a seventeen-year-old student named Bob Heft for a school project — he got a B-. His teacher said she would change it to an A if Congress adopted it. Congress did, in 1960. The teacher changed the grade. In 1954, Congress added "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance, which had been written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy, a socialist Baptist minister. The addition was a response to the "godless communism" of the Soviet Union. President Eisenhower signed it on Flag Day. The pledge was originally recited with a straight-arm salute, which was abandoned in 1942 because it resembled the Nazi salute. People born on June 14 fall under the zodiac sign of Gemini. The birthstone is Pearl and the birth flower is Rose. Historical events on June 14 include 1777: Continental Congress adopts Stars and Stripes as US national flag, 1940: German troops enter Paris (France surrenders), 1954: Congress adds "under God" to Pledge of Allegiance on Flag Day. Famous people born on June 14 include Che Guevara (1928), Donald Trump (1946), Steffi Graf (1969).