A LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON VICE PRESIDENTIAL AUTOMOBILE FLAG. White rayon flag embroidered with a ...

A LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON VICE PRESIDENTIAL AUTOMOBILE FLAG. White rayon flag embroidered with a bald eagle clutching an arrow in one claw and an olive branch in the other, holding a sash with the nation's motto in its beak, surmounted by 13 embroidered stars, the edges trimmed in blue fringe. Manufactured at the Philadelphia Quartermaster depot, 1961-1963. H: 18 in; W: 26 in Provenance: used during the Kennedy administration by Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson, c.1961-63; acquired by a staffer; sold to Harold Lubick and incorporated into his Collection of United States Command Authority Flags; sold privately to the Zaricor Flag Collection. Exhibition History: Private Showing, Night of Flags in celebration of George Washington's Birthday, hosted by The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in California, Patriotic Services Committee, Thursday, February 26, 2009, Octagon House, San Francisco. This particular design for the Vice-Presidential flag was introduced in 1947. As with the previous version, the American bald eagle is still the central feature, but here he is smaller and holding only one arrow and one small olive twig. Most dramatically, the eagle's wings are pointed down in a submissive position. The new VP flag was meant to be a complete contrast to the seal and flag of the U.S. president and in that, it succeeded very well. U.S. Vice Presidents generally disliked it. Vice President Johnson said the downturned wings made the bird look 'droopy' and Vice President Hubert Humphrey said that the eagle looked like a wounded quail. In 1975, Vice President Nelson Rockefeller prevailed upon President Gerald Ford to order a change, which was promulgated by Executive Order 11884 of October 7, 1975. The new flag, still in use, is white with the same coat of arms shown on the President's flag and a blue star in each corner. Lyndon Baines Johnson was the Vice President for just under three years and as a result flags from his tenure are quite rare. Johnson took on numerous minor diplomatic missions during the Kennedy administration which required the use of similar flags, including trips home to Texas, as well as visits to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, and Cape Canaveral in Florida, which he undertook as chairman of the President's Ad Hoc Committee for Science which oversaw NASA and Project Apollo. This rare U.S. Vice Presidential flag was formerly part of the collection of the noted presidential scholar Mr. Harold Lubick. The Harold Lubick Collection of United States Command Authority flags was assembled from a variety of sources over a thirty-year period of collecting. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing