“When the flags appeared, rumors flapped: It was a prank or a grave security breach. But the artists, Mischa Leinkauf and Matthias Wermke, … explained that they only wanted to celebrate ‘the beauty of public space’ and the great American bridge whose German-born engineer, John Roebling, died in 1869 on July 22, the day the white flags appeared.” (They even say the flags were white-on-white stars and stripes.)