Hawaii became the 50th U.S. state on August 21, 1959.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the admission proclamation after Hawaii’s residents approved statehood in a June 1959 referendum. Hawaii had previously been a U.S. territory since 1900, following annexation by the United States in 1898.
Alaska became the 49th state earlier in 1959, on January 3. Hawaii’s admission completed the current 50-state Union and led to the 50-star flag. The new flag became official on July 4, 1960, the first Independence Day after Hawaii’s admission.
Hawaii is an archipelago in the central Pacific, far from the contiguous United States. Its statehood history differs from Alaska’s, and the two were admitted in the same year. The 1959 admissions explain why modern American symbols use 50 stars rather than 48 or 49.