Rubio Defends Replacing Foreign Flags with Stars and Stripes at State Department: “We’re Not the United Nations”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has drawn fire for a simple decision at Foggy Bottom: taking down the rows of foreign flags that had lined the State Department atrium since 1961 and replacing them with a long stretch of American flags. Critics called it isolationist. Rubio called it common sense.
“There was a huge outrage,” Rubio said. “We had these flags at the State Department when you walk in and we had all these flags of all these different countries. And I, look, I didn’t go in with like a crusade to remove the flags. We left it there for a year and a half, but then for America 250 we made them all American flags, okay?”
The change was temporary for the nation’s 250th anniversary. Then the department left the American flags in place. That is when the complaints intensified
“And then we left them there after 250 and people are going crazy, ‘Oh my God, they’re abandoning the world,'” Rubio continued. “I said, no, we’re not the United Nations. Take the flag, the United Nations can have all those flags. It’s the State Department of the United States.
The point is straightforward. The building represents the United States government conducting foreign policy, not a collection of every other capital on earth. Displaying American flags does not mean the country has withdrawn from global affairs. It means the people walking through those doors are there to advance American interests first.
Rubio addressed the larger question of U.S. engagement directly. “So the way I view it is that what we need to do on, I think your question was probably geared towards more why is the United States involved in things around the world. Well, we have to be involved in things around the world because whether we’re involved in the world or not, the world will be involved with us.”
The policy is consistent with earlier guidance that U.S. facilities should prioritize the American flag. Supporters see the move as a long-overdue correction after decades of visual deference to every other nation. Opponents treat the sight of the Stars and Stripes in the State Department as an act of provocation. Rubio’s response has been that the department works for the United States, and the flags should reflect that fact.