- (a) The flag should not be displayed
on a float in a parade except from a staff, or as provided in
subsection (i) of this section.
- (b) The flag should not be draped
over the hood, top, sides, or back of a vehicle or of a railroad
train or a boat. When the flag is displayed on a motorcar, the
staff shall be fixed firmly to the chassis or clamped to the right
fender.
- (c) No other flag or pennant should
be placed above, or, if on the same level, to the right of the
flag of the United States of America, except during church
services conducted by naval chaplains at sea, when the church
pennant may be flown above the flag during church services for the
personnel of the Navy. No person shall display the flag of the
United Nations or any other national or international flag equal,
above, or in a position of superior prominence or honor to, or in
place of, the flag of the United States at any place within the
United States or any Territory or possession thereof: Provided,
That nothing in this section shall make unlawful the continuance
of the practice heretofore followed of displaying the flag of the
United Nations in a position of superior prominence or honor, and
other national flags in positions of equal prominence or honor,
with that of the flag of the United States at the headquarters of
the United Nations.
- (d) The flag of the United States of
America, when it is displayed with another flag against a wall
from crossed staffs, should be on the right, the flag's own right,
and its staff should be in front of the staff of the other flag.
- (e) The flag of the United States of
America should be at the center and at the highest point of the
group when a number of flags of States or localities or pennants
of societies are grouped and displayed from staffs.
- (f) When flags of States, cities, or
localities, or pennants of societies are flown on the same halyard
with the flag of the United States, the latter should always be at
the peak. When the flags are flown from adjacent staffs, the flag
of the United States should be hoisted first and lowered last. No
such flag or pennant may be placed above the flag of the United
States or to the United States flag's right.
- (g) When flags of two or more
nations are displayed, they are to be flown from separate staffs
of the same height. The flags should be of approximately equal
size. International usage forbids the display of the flag of one
nation above that of another nation in time of peace.
- (h) When the flag of the United
States is displayed from a staff projecting horizontally or at an
angle from the window sill, balcony, or front of a building, the
union of the flag should be placed at the peak of the staff unless
the flag is at half staff. When the flag is suspended over a
sidewalk from a rope extending from a house to a pole at the edge
of the sidewalk, the flag should be hoisted out, union first, from
the building.
- (i) When displayed either
horizontally or vertically against a wall, the union should be
uppermost and to the flag's own right, that is, to the observer's
left. When displayed in a window, the flag should be displayed in
the same way, with the union or blue field to the left of the
observer in the street.
- (j) When the flag is displayed over
the middle of the street, it should be suspended vertically with
the union to the north in an east and west street or to the east
in a north and south street.
- (k) When used on a speaker's
platform, the flag, if displayed flat, should be displayed above
and behind the speaker. When displayed from a staff in a church or
public auditorium, the flag of the United States of America should
hold the position of superior prominence, in advance of the
audience, and in the position of honor at the clergyman's or
speaker's right as he faces the audience. Any other flag so
displayed should be placed on the left of the clergyman or speaker
or to the right of the audience.
- (l) The flag should form a
distinctive feature of the ceremony of unveiling a statue or
monument, but it should never be used as the covering for the
statue or monument.
- (m) The flag, when flown at
half-staff, should be first hoisted to the peak for an instant and
then lowered to the half-staff position. The flag should be again
raised to the peak before it is lowered for the day.
On Memorial Day the flag
should be displayed at half-staff until noon only, then raised to the
top of the staff. By order of the President, the flag shall be flown
at half-staff upon the death of principal figures of the United States
Government and the Governor of a State, territory, or possession, as a
mark of respect to their memory. In the event of the death of other
officials or foreign dignitaries, the flag is to be displayed at
half-staff according to Presidential instructions or orders, or in
accordance with recognized customs or practices not inconsistent with
law. In the event of the death of a present or former official of the
government of any State, territory, or possession of the United
States, the Governor of that State, territory, or possession may
proclaim that the National flag shall be flown at half-staff.
The flag shall be flown at
half-staff thirty days from the death of the President or a former
President; ten days from the death of the Vice President, the Chief
Justice or a retired Chief Justice of the United States, or the
Speaker of the House of Representatives; from the day of death until
internment of an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, a Secretary
of an executive or military department, a former Vice President, or
the Governor of a State, territory, or possession; and on the day of
death and the following day for a Member of Congress. The flag shall
be flown at half-staff on Peace Officers Memorial Day, unless that day
is also Armed Forces Day.
As used in this subsection
-
- ....
(1) the term "half-staff" means the position of the flag
when it is one-half the distance between the top and bottom of the
staff;
- ....(2)
the term "executive or military department" means any
agency listed under sections 101 and 102 of title 5; and
- ....
(3) the term "Member of Congress" means a Senator, a
Representative, a Delegate, or the Resident Commissioner for
Puerto Rico.
- (n) When the Flag is used to cover a
casket, it should be so placed that the union is at the head and
over the left shoulder. The flag should not be lowered into the
grave or allowed to touch the ground.
- (o) When the flag is suspended
across a corridor or lobby in a building with only one main
entrance, it should be suspended vertically with the union of the
flag to the observer's left upon entering. If the building has
more than one main entrance, the flag should be suspended
vertically near the center of the corridor or lobby with the union
to the north, when entrances are to the east and west or to the
east when entrances are to the north and south. If there are
entrances in more than two directions, the union should be to the
east.
