Years flown: 1912-1959

Presidents: William Howard Taft (1909-1913), Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921), Warren G. Harding (1921-1923), Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929), Herbert Hoover (1929-1933), Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945), Harry S. Truman (1945-1953), Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961)

States added: New Mexico and Arizona

In 1912, New Mexico and Arizona were added to the United States, there by creating 48 states represented on the American flag. This flag was the official flag of the United States of America for 47 years with eight presidents serving: William H. Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, and Dwight D. Eisenhower. This is the flag that was fought for during World War II and the Korean War. It is the flag Marines raised over Iwo Jima in 1945. It has a long-standing significance and reigned many years. It was only surpassed in time flown by the current 50-Star flag in July of 2007!

Before the adoption of the 48-Star flag there was no pattern in which the stars were to be placed on the blue canton, thus lending to the representation of the United States of America in many different aspects (see the 13 star flag for example). William Howard Taft issued an Executive Order to formalize the appearance of our nation’s flag stating that “the stars were to be arranged in six horizontal rows of eight each.”

The World War II “Flag of Liberation” is probably the most notable 48-star flag. On July 20, 1945, this flag was raised over Berlin after being conquered. It is also the same flag that had flown over the United States Capitol when Japanese forces attacked Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941.

President Truman made this speech as follows:

“We are here today to raise the flag of victory over the capital of our greatest adversary. In doing that, we must remember that in raising that flag we are raising it in the name of the people of the United States, who are looking forward to a better world, a world in which all the people will have an opportunity to enjoy the good things in life, and not just a few at the top. Let us not forget that we are fighting for peace, and for the welfare of mankind. We are not fighting for conquest. There is not one piece of territory, or one thing of monetary nature that we want out of this war. We want peace and prosperity for the world as a whole. We want to see the time come when we can do the things in peace that we have been able to do in war.”

The Flag of Liberation was then flown again, this time from the mast of the battleship Missouri, while the Japanese signed the surrender documents that ended World War II.

https://www.nps.gov/hstr/learn/historyculture/upload/Harry%20Truman%20and%20the%2048-Star%20Flag.pdf

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_the_United_States

https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/