§ 7. — Position and manner of display.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 4USC7]
TITLE 4--FLAG AND SEAL, SEAT OF GOVERNMENT, AND THE STATES
CHAPTER 1--THE FLAG
Sec. 7. Position and manner of display
The flag, when carried in a procession with another flag or flags,
should be either on the marching right; that is, the flag's own right,
or, if there is a line of other flags, in front of the center of that
line.
(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 30 days from the death
of the President or a former President; 10 days from the day of 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 interment 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, United States
Code; and
(3) the term ``Member of Congress'' means a Senator, a
Representative, a Delegate, or the Resident Commissioner from 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.
(Added Pub. L. 105-225, Sec. 2(a), Aug. 12, 1998, 112 Stat. 1495.)
Historical and Revision Notes
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Revised Section Source (U.S. Code) Source (Statutes at Large)
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7..................................... 36:175. June 22, 1942, ch. 435, Sec. 3, 56
Stat. 378; Dec. 22, 1942, ch. 806,
Sec. 3, 56 Stat. 1075; July 9, 1953,
ch. 183, 67 Stat. 142; July 7, 1976,
Pub. L. 94-344, (6)-(11), 90 Stat.
811; Sept. 13, 1994, Pub. L. 103-322,
title XXXII, Sec. 320922(b), 108
Stat. 2131.
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Proc. No. 3044. Display of Flag at Half-Staff Upon Death of Certain
Officials and Former Officials
Proc. No. 3044, Mar. 1, 1954, 19 F.R. 1235, as amended by Proc. No.
3948, Dec. 12, 1969, 34 F.R. 19699, provided:
WHEREAS it is appropriate that the flag of the United States of
America be flown at half-staff on Federal buildings, grounds, and
facilities upon the death of principal officials and former officials of
the Government of the United States and the Governors of the States,
Territories, and possessions of the United States as a mark of respect
to their memory; and
WHEREAS it is desirable that rules be prescribed for the uniform
observance of this mark of respect by all executive departments and
agencies of the Government, and as a guide to the people of the Nation
generally on such occasions:
NOW, THEREFORE, I, DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER, President of the United
States of America and Commander in Chief of the armed forces of the
United States, do hereby prescribe and proclaim the following rules with
respect to the display of the flag of the United States of America at
half-staff upon the death of the officials hereinafter designated:
1. The flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff on all
buildings, grounds, and naval vessels of the Federal Government in the
District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its
Territories and possessions for the period indicated upon the death of
any of the following-designated officials or former officials of the
United States:
(a) The President or a former President: for thirty days from the
day of death.
The flag shall also be flown at half-staff for such period at all
United States embassies, legations, and other facilities abroad,
including all military facilities and naval vessels and stations.
(b) The Vice President, the Chief Justice or a retired Chief Justice
of the United States, or the Speaker of the House of Representatives:
for ten days from the day of death.
(c) An Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, a member of the
Cabinet, a former Vice President, the President pro tempore of the
Senate, the Majority Leader of the Senate, the Minority Leader of the
Senate, the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, or the
Minority Leader of the House of Representatives: from the day of death
until interment.
2. The flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff on all
buildings, grounds, and naval vessels of the Federal Government in the
metropolitan area of the District of Columbia on the day of death and on
the following day upon the death of a United States Senator,
Representative, Territorial Delegate, or the Resident Commissioner from
the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and it shall also be flown at half-
staff on all buildings, grounds, and naval vessels of the Federal
Government in the State, Congressional District, Territory, or
Commonwealth of such Senator, Representative, Delegate, or Commissioner,
respectively, from the day of death until interment.
3. The flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff on all
buildings and grounds of the Federal Government in a State, Territory,
or possession of the United States upon the death of the Governor of
such State, Territory, or possession from the day of death until
interment.
4. In the event of the death of other officials, former officials,
or foreign dignitaries, the flag of the United States shall be displayed
at half-staff in accordance with such orders or instructions as may be
issued by or at the direction of the President, or in accordance with
recognized customs or practices not inconsistent with law.
5. The heads of the several departments and agencies of the
Government may direct that the flag of the United States be flown at
half-staff on buildings, grounds, or naval vessels under their
jurisdiction on occasions other than those specified herein which they
consider proper, and that suitable military honors be rendered as
appropriate.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal
of the United States of America to be affixed.
DONE at the City of Washington this 1st day of March in the year of
our Lord nineteen hundred and fifty-four, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the one
hundred and seventy-eighth.
[seal]
Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Section Referred to in Other Sections
This section is referred to in title 10 section 2249b; title 36
section 136.
