NEW Episode: The White House 1600 Sessions Podcast “Making the Presidential Seal”

Aug 20, 2024 Washington, D.C. —

The White House Historical Association released a new episode of The White House 1600 Sessions podcast today featuring a conversation on the making of the iconic presidential seal and other elements of national symbolism. Stewart McLaurin, president of the Association, speaks with Charles Mugno, Director of The Institute of Heraldry; Thomas Casciaro, Chief of the Technical and Production Division at The Institute of Heraldry; and Michael Craghead, Exhibit Specialist at The Institute of Heraldry, who has been painting plaques for the president and vice president for more than 20 years. In this episode, McLaurin goes on a special tour of The Institute of Heraldry, located at Fort Belvoir, a United States Army installation in Northern Virginia.

“Anytime you see the president of the United States speaking at a podium, usually right there on the front of that podium is a plaque with the presidential seal, and that plaque was made right here and nowhere else,” said McLaurin from The Institute of Heraldry. “This is the only place where the plaques for the president and vice president are crafted and hand painted.”

Heraldry encompasses the art and science of creating, championing, and maintaining official heraldic items like colors, symbols, coats of arms, decorations, medals, flags, agency seals, badges, and other types of official insignia, that help define personal or organizational identification. The art of heraldry dates back many centuries when military groups and nobility needed systems of identification to be more effective in combat and in leadership.

As America was laying its foundation, the Founding Fathers were very cautious about adopting anything closely related to monarchy and nobility, but they also realized the value in uniting around shared insignia. Though origins of the Great Seal of the United States can be traced to the Continental Congress, there remained no standard design based on traditional heraldry representing the office of the president until the 1940s.

Near the end of World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt asked heraldry experts and military personnel to redesign the presidential flag, seal, and coat of arms. Unfortunately, President Roosevelt died before the project was completed but President Harry Truman saw it through to completion. In October 1945, President Truman signed an executive order establishing, for the very first time, a legal definition of the coat of arms and seal as used by the president. President Truman later emulated this process to create official designs for the Office of the Vice President.

The Institute of Heraldry traces its roots to President Woodrow Wilson, who started a Heraldic Program Office under the War Department General Staff in 1919 to create coats of arms and insignia for the U.S. Army. The Institute was formally established in 1960 to carry this mission forward across agencies and departments within the United States. Along with the presidential heraldry, the Institute is directly involved in creating the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Presidential Citizens Medal, decorations, badges, flags, and other meaningful insignia for military services and departments throughout the federal government. The Institute remains dedicated to providing quality heraldic services, while developing and sharing educational research and resources with the public.

“I know that everyone who watches this program will be as inspired as I am by what The Institute of Heraldry has contributed to the symbolism, the imagery, the visual of the presidency of the United States, and all of our branches of the armed service,” said McLaurin.

The full video of this podcast episode is also available on the White House Historical Association’s YouTube channel here.

The White House 1600 Sessions podcast is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

For more information, please contact press@whha.org.

The White House 1600 Sessions

The White House Historical Association’s President Stewart McLaurin is the host of The White House 1600 Sessions, the Association’s official audio and video podcast devoted to exploring the history, cultural impact, untold stories, and personal accounts of America’s most iconic residence and highest office.