Product Description
In the modern history of the United States Coast Guard, there has been a
rapid shift from mistaken identity and anonymity to a recognizable brand identity.
One anecdote provides a perfect example of this mistaken identity. On ocean station
in October 1956, the cutter Pontchartrain held responsibility for coming to the aid of
a downed transoceanic passenger aircraft. On the 19th, the Pan American clipper
Sovereign of the Skies lost two of its engines en route from Hawaii to California. After
the aircraft radioed the cutter and ditched nearby, the Pontchartrain sent out its small
boats and gathered up all thirty-one passengers and crew. No sooner had one survivor
gained the safety of the cutter’s deck, than he gratefully exclaimed, “Thank goodness
for the Navy!” This case was one of dozens in which the Coast Guard seemed unrecognizable
to the public it served.
John F. Kennedy was acutely aware of the importance of imagery, having relied
heavily on image-building in his successful 1960 presidential campaign. When they
moved into the White House in 1961, the president and the first lady began an
effort to remake the image of the presidency, starting with Jacqueline Kennedy’s
redecoration of the White House interior and redesign of Lafayette Square, a park
located next to the White House.
Kennedy next undertook a redesign of the jet designated as Air Force One.
He felt an initial design and paint scheme provided by the Air Force was too regal
looking, so on the advice of the First Lady he turned to French-born industrial
designer Raymond Loewy, whose work had been recognized the world over during
the post-war period. Loewy’s Air Force One design won immediate praise from
Kennedy and the press, and the aircraft became an important symbol of the
president and the United States in official visits across the country and overseas.
Delighted by the look of Air Force One, Kennedy granted Loewy’s request for
a meeting on 13 May 1963. During that meeting and another the subsequent day,
the men discussed improving the visual image of the federal government, and Kennedy
suggested the Coast Guard as an appropriate agency to start with. Shortly after the meetings,
the design firm of Raymond Loewy/ William Snaith, Inc., received a contract
for a ninety-day feasibility study and, in January 1964, the firm presented its findings
to Coast Guard leadership.
With its experience in designing industry trademarks, Loewy/Snaith recommended
that the Coast Guard adopt an identification device similar to a commercial
trademark. The firm believed the symbol should be easily identifiable from
a distance, easily differentiated from other government or commercial emblems or
logos, and easily adapted to a wide variety of air and sea assets.
The Coast Guard established an ad hoc committee to work with Loewy/Snaith on
the project, and on 19 June 1964 the Coast Guard signed a contract with the firm to
“accomplish studies, prepare design efforts and make a presentation of a comprehensive
and integrated identification plan for the US Coast Guard.” On 21 March
1965, during an all-day session at Coast Guard headquarters, representatives from
Loewy/Snaith presented their findings to the service, and on the same day the Coast
Guard chief of staff, RADM Paul Trimble, agreed to proceed with the Integrated
Visual Identification Program. During the prototyping process, Loewy/Snaith
selected a wide red bar to the upper right of a narrow blue bar canted at sixty-four
degrees and running from lower left to upper right. The Loewy/Snaith team used
its own stylized version of the traditional Coast Guard emblem for placement on
the center of the red bar. The overall design came to be known as the “Racing Stripe,”
or “Slash,” emblem.
The Racing Stripe design was tested on cutters and facilities in the Coast Guard’s
Seventh District in the Florida area due to the greater variety of sea assets stationed
there. The prototype slash was affixed to the cutters Diligence and Androscoggin as well
as a buoy tender, vehicles, and buildings at Base Miami. At North Carolina’s Air Station
Elizabeth City, the slash was affixed to an HH-52 helicopter, a Grumman HU-16
“Albatross” amphibian, and an HC-130 “Hercules” fixed-wing aircraft.
On 4 May 1966, the service’s ad hoc committee for testing the Visual Identification
System sent to the commandant a favorable report regarding servicewide use
of the Racing Stripe. During the prototyping process, the Coast Guard’s selection committee
decided against the Loewy stylized shield and opted for the service’s traditional
shield emblem instead. While the plan received the stamp of approval, details
remained to be ironed out over the next several months. By early spring of 1967,
most outstanding issues had been resolved, including the type-font for lettering and
exact paint color specifications. On 6 April 1967, Commandant Edwin Roland
issued Instruction 5030.5, which ordered servicewide implementation of the Integrated
Visual Identification System and ended four years of study and experimentation.
The adoption of the Racing Stripe initially met with resistance
from the Coast Guard’s service culture. Nonetheless, over the course
of the late 1960s and early 1970s, the symbol spread to every maritime
and aviation asset in the service. By 1975, the Coast Guard’s sail training
ship, Eagle, remained the last service asset not sporting the emblem.
Traditionalists had long held that the Racing Stripe would destroy
her classic lines and traditional look, and strongly opposed application of
the emblem to the barque. As 1976 was approaching and the nation was making
preparations for bicentennial celebrations, Eagle was to serve as the host ship of OpSail
’76. Here, the Coast Guard leadership saw an opportunity to present the service’s brand
identity to the world by distinguishing Eagle from the other tall ships in attendance, which
included some of her sister ships. In 1976, the Eagle became the service’s last cutter to
adopt the Racing Stripe, and the ship’s new look received a very public stamp of approval
when CBS news anchor, experienced sailor, and OpSail TV commentator Walter
Cronkite singled out Eagle and her Racing Stripe logo with approving remarks.
Since the 1970s, the Coast Guard Racing Stripe and color scheme has been
applied even to assets not commonly associated with the service. With alterations
in coloration and angle, the Racing Stripe has become a symbol for sea service vessels
at the federal, state, county, and municipal levels throughout the US and for scores of
foreign sea services.
Today, the service and its missions have been associated with the Racing Stripe
symbol and its unique color scheme for more than forty years. During this time,
the Coast Guard has served throughout the world and collaborated on a variety
of levels with foreign coast guards and sea services. These activities include training,
international patrols, and advising foreign sea services. In recent deployments, such
as Operation Iraqi Freedom and the recent deployment of USCGC Dallas during the
war between Russia and Georgia, the presence of USCG cutters with the instantly
recognizable Racing Stripe has proved a de-escalating influence in high-tension
maritime missions. This international engagement has spread the service’s reputation
and brand identity throughout the world.
The Integrated Visual Identification Program stands as the most successful
branding program of any federal military agency and possibly of any agency in the
US government. Future service assets will continue to feature the coloring and emblem
developed over forty years ago to identify the Coast Guard
and distinguish it from other federal sea services.
Where many could not identify the Coast Guard’s assets
before it adopted a brand identity, most individuals connected
with the water do now. Some of this trend must be credited to
the missions carried out by the Coast Guard around the clock
and the sort of operations in which it serves; however, much
of that recognition should also be credited to the Coast Guard’s
adoption of the Racing Stripe symbol. Thanks to a visionary president, talented
industrial designers, and a strong Coast Guard leader who saw the importance of a
brand identity for the service, the assets of the Coast Guard are now easily identified
by most Americans and foreigners connected to the sea.