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CNN Saturday Morning News

Ask CNN: When and Why Was the Presidential Seal Created?

Aired August 11, 2001 - 08:16   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOB VANDEMOORE: My name is Bob Vandemoore of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin and I would like to ask CNN: When was the presidential seal created, who created it and for what original purpose?

BRUCE MORTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Well, the great seal of the United States came first. That started back in the 1780s. Presidential seals are a little harder to trace. Millard Fillmore, we think, had one when he was president in the 1850s, but nobody's sure what it looked like. Rutherford B. Hayes had one used at his inauguration in 1877. That looks a lot like today's, except that Harry Truman made some important changes.

Truman turned the eagle's head around. The eagle's head used to face the arrows of war. Truman thought presidents should be prepared for war but ought to look toward peace, turned the head so that it faces the olive branch in the eagle's other claw. He also put 48 stars around the eagle, around the seal, one for each state, to show that the president is president of all the people and, he said, generals might come in with five stars, but if the presidential seal had 48, they'd know who the commander-in-chief was. President Eisenhower added two more stars because Alaska and Hawaii became states during his presidency.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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