This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans. It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years. And now it takes form in a new way.
The 2026 Semi-Quincentennial Coin and Metal Program from the United States Mint. It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage. Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues. Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q. That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q.
This July 4th, come celebrate at America's Block Party, hosted by America 250. America's Block Party is a camp miss 4th of July concert happening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Experience music performances by major artists, patriotic tributes, and the kickoff to Giving Forth, helping to make July 4th the largest day of giving in American history. It's more than just fireworks. Join this landmark celebration and get Your America's Block Party Tickets Now for $17.76 at America250.org/slash LA.
I turned off news altogether. I hate to say it, but I don't trust much of anything.
Alright. It's the rage bait. It feels like it's trying to divide people. If we got clear facts, maybe we could calm down a little. NBC News brings you clear reporting.
Let's meet at the facts. Let's move forward from there. NBC News reporting for America. What's up y'all? Summer's got a different tip-up.
Everything's a little looser, brighter. One plan turns into another. You hear something, you stay a little longer.
Next thing you know, you're somewhere you didn't plan to be. It's those in between moments. That's where the ideas hit. conversations stretch out, little memories sneak up on you.
Sometimes it's just about what's in your hand. that color. That chill, the new tropical butterfly refresher from Starbucks. guava and passion fruit flavors with ango pineapple flavored pearls. Yeah.
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Hi, it's Karen in Georgia from My Favorite Murder. We cruised around LA in the Hyundai Ionic 5 and dove into the fascinating life of actress and inventor Hedy Lamar. Want the full story? Take a listen. She starts dating Howard Hughes.
And in fact, she helps him design a faster plane.
So she finds the fastest bird and the fastest fish and sketches out a drawing of what the two would look like as a plane. And that becomes the plane that we know today. And he calls her a genius. Check out our new episode, Spotlighting Groundbreaking Innovators like Hedi Lamar and Billie Jean King. Presented by the Hyundai Ionic 5.
Goodbye. And we continue with our American stories. Our next story is about a 17-year-old kid named Bob Heft. who designed the fifty star American flag We fly proudly. To this very day, Here's Greg Hengler.
with the story. After learning about Betsy Ross, you probably didn't give much thought to how the subsequent U.S. flags were designed. It might seem like a no-brainer flag makers just added a new star for every new state, right?
Well, it turns out not that simple. Each new flag has a very careful design, and the arrangement of the stars must be precise and symmetrical. And for the flag we know today, that arrangement was designed by a junior in high school from Ohio. It was 1958 and America only contained 48 United States. The flag at the time featured six rows of eight stars.
Bob Heff's history teacher assigned a class project where each student had to bring in something they made. Bob Heft loved flags. Then he loved politics.
So, having been inspired by the Betsy Ross story the class just studied, and seeing the news that Alaska was poised to become our nation's 49th state, with Hawaii soon behind. Heff decided to make a 50-star flag. Here's Bob. In American history class, we had to do an outside of class project. We could make or do whatever we wanted.
Like a science fair or something like that, bring the project in. The Betsy Ross story intrigued me. And my mom and dad, they had a 48-star flag they received as a wedding present, which of course meant a lot to them.
Well, I took a scissors and cut it up. Hef's mother walked in from the kitchen and found him cutting up their family flag and promptly began scolding him. She told his father when he got home, and Heft received another tongue-lashing. I had always been in the Boy Scouts and I had always been patriotic, Heff told the Lancaster Eagle Gazette in 2007. They wanted to know why I would turn on the flag.
I had never sown in my life. I watched my mom sow, but I never sown. And since making the flag of her country, I've never sown again.
So anyhow, we get to class. I had my flag on the teacher's desk. And the teacher said, what's this thing on my desk?
So I got up and I approached the desk, and I'm shaking like a leaf. And he said, Why you got too many stars? You don't even know how many states we have. and it gave me the grade of a B minus.
Now that a B minus isn't that bad of a grade.
However, uh a friend of mine, Jim, he picked up five leaves off the ground. He's taping these leaves down to the notebook and labeling elm, hickory, maple. and the teacher gave him the grade of an A. I was really, I was upset. Teacher said, If you don't like the grade, get it accepted in Washington, then come back and see me.
I might consider changing the grade. Bob arrived home that day with his class project. And I had it in a plastic bag and I threw it on the sofa when Mother came in and she said, supper's ready. I said, I'm not hungry. She said, what's wrong?
I said, and I never talked about a teacher. I said, this stupid teacher gave me a B minus on the flag. And then she really hacked me off. I said, that's more than I'd have given you because she was really dead set against this. two years later.
I'd written 21 letters to the White House, made 18 phone calls.
Now you can imagine when my mom got the phone bell. What's this number? I said, well, mom, that's the White House.
So, anyhow, I got this call and it said, now the President of the United States is calling you later on today.
Well at that time Eisenhower was president And he comes on the phone and he says, is this Robert G. Heft? And I said, yes, sir, but you can just call me Bob. And he says, I want to know the possibility of coming to Washington, D.C. on July 4th for the official adoption of the new flag.
Bob received this call from President Eisenhower at his new place of employment. Here's what happened next.
Well, I've been at this company 11 days. I said, well, wait a minute. My boss is standing here. I reached down, pushed the red button on the phone, put the President of the United States on hold. What are you doing?
I said, I've got to talk to her. He said, you just put the President of the United States on hold. I said, he wants me to come to Washington. He said, Well, tell him you'll be there. I said, Look, I don't have any sick leave, I don't have any vacation because you know your first job out of high school, you don't want to mess up and just lose it.
And he said, Get him back on the phone, we'll work out the details, we'll charge it off to executive leave or something, but get him back. He was really upset. And we did a lot of military contracts. I think they probably thought, Here's this kid that's been working there for 11 days is going to mess up future contracts, you know, putting the president on hold.
So, I picked up the phone, put the white button, put the phone up, and said, Dwight, are you still there? Because, you know, I didn't know how you properly address it. And they're cracking up. Oh, my Lord, here's Bob talking to Buddy Dwight and stuff. Years following his talk with Dwight, Bob preserved this historic moment and paid a visit to his old teacher.
And so I have the grade book, it's encased in plastic, it's kept in a bank. My teacher said, I guess if it's good enough for Washington, it's good enough for me, I hereby change the grade to an A. Mm-hmm. Decades after, Heft inspired people young and old with his follow-your-dreams story. He became a high school teacher, college professor, and a seven-term mayor of Napoleon, Ohio.
He spoke extensively, as many as 200 engagements a year, and visited the White House 14 times under nine presidents. Heff died on December 12, 2009 at the age of 68. But his legacy survives every time we fly his fifty-star creation. And if the U. S.
ever adds a 51st state, Hef's got that flag covered, too. Back in 1958, he designed a fifty-one star version that uses six rows of stars, alternating between rows of nine and eight. This would make Heft the only person to design two United States flags. Bob said in 2007 An idea doesn't do any good if you don't pursue it. And a terrific job in the production, editing, and storytelling by our own Greg Hengler.
And what a story Bob Hefts is. It was Class project assignment, basically a high school class project, an American history class project. And my goodness, be still my heart. We should have more like these. The story of American Imagination.
The story of Bob Heft. Here on Our American Stories. This is Lee Habib, host of Our American Stories. Every day, we set out to tell the stories of Americans past and present, from small towns to big cities, and from all walks of life, doing extraordinary things. But we truly can't do this show without you.
Our shows are free to listen to, but they're not free to make. If you love what you hear, go to ouramericanstories.com and make a donation to keep the stories coming. That's our American stories. Dot com Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans. It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years.
And now it takes form in a new way. The 2026 Semi-Quincentennial Coin and Metal Program from the United States Mint. It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage. Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues. Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q.
That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q. This July 4th, come celebrate at America's Block Party, hosted by America 250. America's Block Party is a camp miss 4th of July concert happening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Experience music performances by major artists, patriotic tributes, and the kickoff to Giving Forth, helping to make July 4th the largest day of giving in American history. It's more than just fireworks.
Join this landmark celebration and get your ideas. America's Black Party Tickets Now for $17.76 at America250.org/slash LA. Hi, it's Karen in Georgia from My Favorite Murder. We cruised around LA in the Hyundai Ionic 5 and dove into the fascinating life of actress and inventor Hedy Lamar. Want the full story?
Take a listen. She starts dating Howard Hughes. And in fact, she helps him design a faster plane.
So she finds the fastest bird and the fastest fish and sketches out a drawing of what the two would look like as a plane. And that becomes the plane that we know today. And he calls her a genius. Check out our new episode, Spotlighting Groundbreaking Innovators like Hedi Lamar and Billie Jean King. Presented by the Hyundai Ionic 5.
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