Which state became the 50th U.S. state?

Hawaii became the 50th U.S. state.

Hawaii entered the Union on August 21, 1959, after voters approved statehood in a referendum held on June 27 of that year. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the admission proclamation, making Hawaii the final state admitted to the United States.

Alaska had become the 49th state earlier in 1959, on January 3. The two admissions changed the national flag from 48 stars to 50. Executive Order 10834 established the 50-star flag, which became official on July 4, 1960.

Hawaii is an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, far from the contiguous United States. Its statehood followed decades of political change after the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1893, annexation by the United States in 1898, and territorial status beginning in 1900.

Hawaii's admission is sometimes confused with Alaska's because both joined in 1959. Alaska was first, but Hawaii completed the current fifty-state Union.