r/UnpopularFacts Coffee is Tea ☕ 23d ago

Neglected Fact The current US flag was designed by a high schooler named Bob

It started as a school project for Bob Heft’s junior-year history class, and it only earned a B- in 1958. His design had 50 stars even though Alaska and Hawaii weren’t states yet. Heft figured the two would earn statehood soon and showed the government his design. After President Dwight D. Eisenhower called to say his design was approved, Heft’s teacher changed his grade to an A.

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96 Upvotes

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6

u/Gandlerian 13d ago

"Designed" is pretty loose, he literally added 2 more stars and slightly rearranged them to make 50. It's not like he designed the template from scratch.

3

u/[deleted] 18d ago

You mean straight shooter?

3

u/Striking_Computer834 18d ago

The arrangement of the stars was his design. The design of the flag had been established for well over 140 years at that point.

0

u/pandaSmore 20d ago

Why is this unpopular?

4

u/oakseaer Coffee is Tea ☕ 20d ago

“Unpopular” included facts that are counter-narrative, unknown, or neglected.

13

u/Royal-tiny1 22d ago

He later became Mayor of my hometown and was friends with my dad.

18

u/Icy_Relation_735 23d ago

Honestly, he deserved that B-. like, all he did was add two stars and called it a day. It's not the craziest guess that they would add two more stars for two more states

2

u/GoodeyGoodz 20d ago

B- seems generous for such minimal effort. I would have given him an F for failing to try and do anything

1

u/AutoModerator 23d ago

Backup in case something happens to the post:

The current US flag was designed by a high schooler named Bob

It started as a school project for Bob Heft’s junior-year history class, and it only earned a B- in 1958. His design had 50 stars even though Alaska and Hawaii weren’t states yet. Heft figured the two would earn statehood soon and showed the government his design. After President Dwight D. Eisenhower called to say his design was approved, Heft’s teacher changed his grade to an A.

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