USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Gregory Lee Johnson burned an American flag outside of the convention center where the 1984 Republican National Convention was being held in Dallas, Texas. Johnson burned the flag to protest the policies of President Ronald Reagan.

Detailed explanation-2: -The practice of flag burning as a form of political protest emerged during the Vietnam Era, prompting nearly every state in the nation to invoke little-used provisions making it a crime to ‘desecrate’ the flag.

Detailed explanation-3: -In Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397 (1989), the Supreme Court struck down on First Amendment grounds a Texas flag desecration law. The 5-4 decision has served as the center point of a continuing debate regarding the value of free speech as exercised through the burning of the U.S. flag as a form of political protest.

Detailed explanation-4: -On June 21, 1989, a deeply divided United States Supreme Court upheld the rights of protesters to burn the American flag in a landmark First Amendment decision. In the controversial Texas v. Johnson case, the Court voted 5-4 in favor of Gregory Lee Johnson, the protester who had burned the flag.

Detailed explanation-5: -Court said flag burning was protected expression During the Republican National Convention in Dallas in 1984, Gregory Lee Johnson participated in a political demonstration in front of Dallas City Hall. During the demonstration, he doused an American flag with kerosene and set it on fire.