On Inauguration Day 2025, some flags will remain at half-staff in honor of deceased former President Jimmy Carter, while others will be raised to full-staff for incoming President Donald Trump.
President Joe Biden ordered all U.S. states to lower their flags to half-staff to acknowledge Carter, who died in his Plains, Georgia home on Dec. 29 at age 100. The flags were ordered to remain at half-staff for 30 days or until Jan. 29. While the country’s flag code dictates flags remain lowered following a president’s death, the code is not mandatory.
Governors in Iowa, Texas, Florida, Tennessee, Oklahoma, North Dakota, Nebraska and Alabama will raise the flags to full staff for Trump on Inauguration Day. Not limited to Republican-led states, New York, California, and Colorado will also hoist the flag on Jan. 20 and then will lower the flag the following day.
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House Speaker Mike Johnson announced that the U.S. Capitol will also have its flags at full-staff during Trump’s inauguration.
“On January 20th, the flags at the Capitol will fly at full-staff to celebrate our country coming together behind the inauguration of our 47th President, Donald Trump,” Johnson said in a statement. “The flags will be lowered back to half-staff the following day to continue honoring President Jimmy Carter.”
Here is what to know about the country’s flags on Inauguration Day.
According to the U.S. General Services Administration, flags are flown at half-staff when the country or a specific state is mourning following national tragedies, for days of remembrance or in the immediate deaths of government or military personnel.
Only the U.S. president, a state governor or the mayor of Washington, D.C. can order flags to fly at half-staff.
Some governors, both Republican and Democratic, have decided to fly public flags at full-staff to honor Inauguration Day.
“Regardless of your political views, the American tradition of the peaceful transition of power is something to celebrate, said New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat.
Other governors either followed suit or had their flags already at full-staff, like in Oklahoma.
“Inauguration day is an important tradition of our Republic where Americans come together to celebrate the peaceful transition of power between presidents,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a memo he posted on X. “Our nation’s flag will be prominently displayed at full-staff to honor the tradition of our founding fathers and the sacrifices made by those who have served to ensure the torch of liberty continues to burn strong.”
Trump was seemingly a proponent of raising flags for his inauguration. In a post on Truth Social, he said Democrats were “giddy” that flags could be at “half mast” during his swearing-in.
“They think it’s so great, and are so happy about it because, in actuality, they don’t love our Country, they only think about themselves,” Trump said on social media.
The American flag would “for the first time ever during an Inauguration of a future President, be at half mast,” he added. “Nobody wants to see this, and no American can be happy about it. Let’s see how it plays out.”
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To honor the first American prisoners of war released from Vietnam, former President Richard Nixon ordered flags to be raised in February 1973 after they had been lowered for the death of President Lyndon Johnson. The celebration lasted a day before the flags were lowered back to half-staff for the rest of the mourning period.
Contributing: Catherine Messier, Brandi D. Addison, Joey Garrison & C. A. Bridges/ USA TODAY NETWORK, Marty Roney/ Montgomery Advertiser, Dale Denwalt/ The Oklahoman and Kate Kealey/ Des Moines Register
