While not technically a flag per se, the seal of the President of the United States is often flown as a flag, and appears on medals, stationary, flags, architecture, and monuments. The seal is one of the greatest designed emblems ever made, as it contains enough symbolism for even minor crackpots to put together some wild conspiracy theory regarding its design.
The seal features a stylized bald eagle, along with the following:
- Thirteen arrows in one claw.
- An olive branch in the other claw.
- A shield with thirteen stripes.
- Thirteen clouds
- Thirteen stars, with rays emanating from them
- A banner in the eagle's mouth, reading E Pluribus Unum (Out of many, one)
- In later renditions of the seal, fourty-eight stars surrounding the entire design (not shown)
The arrows are symbolic of war, and the olive branch is a symbol of peace. In the original design, the eagle was looking towards the arrows (war), until it was redesigned in 1945 by President Truman, who turned the eagle to face towards the olive branch (peace). Truman also also added the 48 stars to stand for each of the states at the time, but also because no general could ever have that many stars. It's always good to redesign a seal to show that you're better than your staff.
The number thirteen appears multiple times to represent the thirteen original states, and also to give people with triskaidekaphobia the willies.
Technical clue provided by Perl Training Australia
