Robert Heft just wanted an A. The 17 year-old high school junior from Ohio was a dedicated student who took his work seriously, especially in his U.S. History course. That's why he was so excited when his teacher assigned his class to bring in something that they made themselves to reflect the spirit of America.
Robert was a huge fan of the story of Betsy Ross sewing the very first American flag, and he got to work sewing his own. He was so invested in it, and wanted an A so badly, that it took him 12.5 hours. But it was worth it. The flag was beautiful. Thirteen stripes and 50 stars arranged in a staggered pattern--five rows of six stars apiece and four rows of five. He raced to school to turn it in.
He got a B-minus.
"You don't even know how many states there are!" his teacher told him. It was 1958, and there were only 48 states.
It was true, Robert pleaded, he had added two extra states because he had seen news reports that the territories of Alaska and Hawaii were about to be admitted to the Union. His flag was looking ahead.
Still, his teacher was unimpressed.
"This lacks originality!" he said. "It looks the exact same as the 48-star flag!"
This was true as well, but Robert argued that every time the American flag had been redesigned to account for new states being admitted, the goal was to make it appear that nothing about the flag had changed. It was supposed to look the same as it did before. Robert's teacher was still unimpressed, but made a deal: If Alaska and Hawaii really were admitted to the Union and Congress adopted Robert's new flag, he would change his grade to an A.
Robert really wanted that A, but now he had an even more important mission--to change the course of American history itself. He spent the next two years writing letters to members of Congress and flooding their offices with phone calls.
On January 3, 1959, Alaska became America's 49th state. Shortly afterward, it appeared inevitable that Hawaii would join as well, and Ohio Congressman Walter H. Moeller took Robert's letters and calls seriously. He loved the teenager's drive and loved his design for the flag. When Hawaii officially became the 50th state on August 21, 1959, Moeller lobbied his fellow members of Congress to adopt Robert's design, and slowly, steadily--with the help of Robert calling and writing them constantly--they agreed.
On July 4, 1960, Robert was invited to a ceremony in Washington, D.C., where President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed legislation adopting his design as the official flag of the United States of America.
The first thing Robert did after the ceremony was over was to seek out his old U.S. History teacher. Beaming with pride, the teacher said he was a man of his word: Robert had finally earned his A.