For decades, the claim that a 17-year-old high school junior from Lancaster, Ohio, designed the first 50-star American flag has been widely reported.
According to the teenager's own account, he sewed the flag as part of a high school history class project and sent it to President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1959, asking him to adopt his design as the nation's new flag when Hawaii became the 50th state.
Heft claimed that Eisenhower's chief of staff Wilton B. Persons sent him a letter thanking him for the flag, and that he had exchanged correspondence with White House officials regarding his claim.
Heft spent his life touting his claim, speaking to school groups, veterans, and reporters about his making the 50-star flag, and it is reported that he was able to get his flag flown over at least 40 state capitol buildings from 1960 to 1962.
The states where the flag was flown included New York, California, Massachusetts, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Utah, Nebraska, and Alaska, among others.
However, some have questioned the validity of Heft's claim, with some officials reportedly being fooled by his story.
Ohio Gov. Michael DiSalle wrote Heft to verify his story, stating that his flag was the first 50-star flag displayed on Ohio property.
But the question remains: was Heft truly the first to design the 50-star flag, or was his story a fabrication?
The tale of the teenager who lived his life for Old Glory is a compelling and uniquely American story, and it is a story that continues to raise questions about the truth behind Heft's claim.
