The new flag design, featuring five rows of six stars alternating with four rows of five, replaced the 49-star version used only briefly after Alaska's statehood. It has remained unchanged since, the longest-used design in American flag history, now flown for over six decades.
Robert G. Heft, a 17-year-old high school student in Lancaster, Ohio, had designed the 50-star arrangement in 1958 as a class project, betting that Hawaii's statehood was imminent even though only 48 states existed at the time. His teacher gave him a B-minus, telling him he could earn a higher grade if the flag were actually adopted by Congress.
Heft mailed his design to his congressman, Walter Moeller, and waited. When Hawaii officially became the 50th state in August 1959, Moeller submitted Heft's design to President Eisenhower among more than 1,500 proposals submitted by Americans nationwide. Eisenhower chose Heft's arrangement, and true to his word, Heft's teacher changed his grade to an A.
The flag officially became the nation's standard on July 4, 1960, timed deliberately to Independence Day. It remains the longest-serving flag design in US history, having now flown longer than any predecessor, a quiet tribute to a teenager's homework assignment that outlasted the Cold War, the Space Race, and a dozen presidencies.