‘Old Glory’ Reminds Americans of Reasons to Celebrate Independence Day Despite Divisive Issues, Says UA Professor

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Flags will increasingly unfurl in all their red, white and star-spangled glory as the July 4th holiday approaches, and a University of Alabama political icon expert says the American flag is “part of the ‘glue’ that holds the population together,” during divisive political times.

“As Americans, we generally have similar understandings of what the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, American eagle or national flag means – such symbols help us develop a measure of commonality which defines us as a nation,” says Dr. Gerald Webster, professor and chairperson of geography at UA. “While the American flag is surely a piece of cloth, it is symbolic of the country’s heritage, sacrifices and collective hopes for the future.”

Webster, who recently authored a chapter on political icons, including flags, scheduled to appear next year in a geography textbook published by Guilford Publications Inc., said in most countries the significance of a flag’s symbolism is great.

“Most frequently the development of a new flag is one of the first orders of business completed by a new country,” Webster said. “At other times new flags are adopted to signal a break with a country’s past and a new beginning. Thus, a new flag was developed in Iraq in April 2004 to signal a change from the dictatorship which dominated the country for the past two decades.”

Shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, a Gallup poll indicated that more than 80 percent of those responding had displayed the American flag, said the UA geographer who teaches in the College of Arts and Sciences. While that number has dropped since, the war in Iraq has likely kept the number of displayed flags higher than it would have otherwise, and it’s likely higher in the South than in other regions, he said.

“Americans tend to fly the flag more frequently in times of perceived national crisis whether it’s the terrorist attack in 2001 or the war in Iraq during the past year,” Webster said. “Arguably, the heavy representation of the South in the military in Iraq has led to more flags being flown here than in other portions of the United States.

“As I drive around Northport and Tuscaloosa I tend to keep a mental checklist of the numbers of flags I see on cars and in yards, and I am quite sure it is greater than in the other portions of the country I have been to in the past couple years.”

And although the war in Iraq is divisive and the nation is more politically polarized than it was immediately following 9-11, Webster said the upcoming holiday and the increased flag waving accompanying it will, at least in the short term, bridge a portion of the political divide.

“I think holidays such as Independence Day transcend, if only temporarily, such divisions. Clearly most Americans view their right to free speech and to carry differences of opinion as freedoms well worth celebrating on July 4th,” Webster said.