This project started as a study of the Presidential presentation (dress) of the first year of the George W. Bush administration. Pres. Bush started to wear the American flag lapel pin after 9/11. He didn't wear many lapel pins of any kind before 9/11. After, he is almost never photographed without the flag on the left lapel of his suit coat. There is a period of transition between September 12 and 25 where it becomes part of the presidential wardrobe that continues for years past his term.

This specific transition is visible through a set of White House press pool photographs starting with W. Bush's first inauguration. Then the style is generally visible over historic inaugurations, State of the Union Address, first year Joint Sessions and the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery. This set defines the president's political use of the American Flag lapel pin. The patent from 1896 is a political item with drawings of people's faces over bunting and flags. From here the presidential fashion trends.

Woodrow Wilson used the flag pin as president of the American Red Cross in 1919. Bob La Follette refused to wear one to spite Wilson in a scene from Unger. Truman wore a WWI veteran pin on his lapel and masonic ring on his pinky finger that are memorialized in statues. LBJ wore a Silver Star lapel pin of dubious significance. FDR doesn't appear to wear flag lapel pins at international or domestic functions.

Nixon didn't wear a flag lapel pin in the Kitchen Debate with Khrushchev in 1959. Neither Nixon nor JFK wore one during the 1960 televised debates. Nixon didn't wear one at his inaugural in 1969 or in the Norman Rockwell or James Anthony Wills portrait at the National Gallery. He didn't wear one during the 1970, '71 or '72 State of the Unions.

Then Nixon went to China. While meeting with the Communists, Nixon started to wear the flag lapel pin in photos with Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai. After that, he wore the pin in his Second Inaugural Address in 1973; when meeting with visiting Leonid Brezhnev in '73; and with Golda Meir in '74. During Watergate, in '74, he wore it during official speeches regarding the tape release (April 29), resignation (August 8) and at his departure (August 9). Out of office Nixon stopped wearing the lapel pin.

Ford did not wear the flag lapel pin when he took office, pardoned Nixon, or addressed the UN in 1974. He didn't wear one during the State of the Union in '75, '76 or '77. Carter didn't wear one at the State of the Union speech in '78, '79 or '80. He did not wear one in his farewell speech in '81.

Reagan did wear one as candidate during the Republican National Convention in 1980 but not as president during his inaugural address and first press conference in '81. He doesn't wear one in any of the '82-'88 State of the Union Addresses, his Second Inaugural in '85, or his Farewell Address in '89. Once president, in domestic roles, Reagan didn't wear a lapel pin. When he delivered international news from oval office, regarding Libya in'86 and Iran-Contra '87, he didn't wear the pin. He also didn't wear a flag lapel pin when he addressed the UN in '88.

H.W. Bush didn't wear one at the 1989 inaugural or Joint Session that year. He didn't wear one during the '90, '91 or '92 State of the Union. He did not wear one during the '91 Press Conference with Gorbachev or during the '92 RNC when he accepted the nomination.

Clinton did not wear a flag lapel pin at the first inaugural or joint session in 1993; State of the Unions in 1994-2000; the second inaugural in '97 or his farewell address in 2001. He didn't wear the pin during the "Gays in the Military" speech ('93), address on Somolia ('93), while signing NAFTA ('93), or reading his statement on Kosovo ('99).

Madeline Albright's broach diplomacy inspired an exhibit called "Read My Pins" at the National Museum of American Diplomacy. Speaker Gingrich (might have?) wore a "Contract with America" pin during the 1995 Joint Session. Speaker Pelosi wore a miniature Mace of the US House on the lapel of her Suffragette White suit while tearing up President Trump's State of the Union speech in 2020.

Americans did not invent the political language of costumes, jewels, brooches, tall hats or short pants. There is a long history of royal, religious and republican application of dress like the cockade, royal jewels and lapel pin. Americans are fluent in this political language.

In modern media, the use of national flags and lobbyist logos have implications to campaign finance disclosure and foreign agent registration. It is not uncommon for American politicians to wear multiple flags on their lapel representing trans-national and private concerns. Don Noel was the first to write the the joke "Politicians Should Wear Sponsor Logos" in the Hartford Courant (7 March 1995). The joke is funny because it is based on the obvious bribery and graft of the American political scene that everybody acknowledges is ubiquitous and wrong. The actual solution--outlawing political bribes--is already the reality of republican, moral and legal imperatives (even if nobody acknowledges this).

4 U.S. Code § 8 Respect for the Flag: "... (d) The flag should never be used as wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery... (i) The flag should never be used for advertising purposes in any manner whatsoever... (j) No part of the flag should ever be used as a costume or athletic uniform." This is obviously happening.

The Hatch Act (1939) outlaws Federal Employees from engaging "in political activity...while wearing a uniform or official insignia." The president and vice president are explicitly exempted. The rest of the politicians who regularly wear the American flag lapel pin are not.

4 U.S. Code § 10 - Modification of rules and customs by President: "Any rule or custom pertaining to the display of the flag of the United States of America, set forth herein, may be altered, modified, or repealed, or additional rules with respect thereto may be prescribed, by the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States, whenever he deems it to be appropriate or desirable; and any such alteration or additional rule shall be set forth in a proclamation."

Without a proclamation the American flag lapel pin it is not a legal custom. It is an extension of military, police and Olympic uniforms which is illegal (and gauche) for politicians to wrap themselves. Yet the political class continues to wear the flag on Federal property why they campaign for offices.

The that least republican citizens can expect is not that representatives publicly follow basic propriety and finance rules. We all know the political class regularly cheats meritocracy and economics. The least we can expect are representatives who break laws with quiet shame instead of irreverence and garrulous patriotism.