Norman Bel Geddes (1893-1958) was one of America's most influential industrial designers and helped to define the 'streamline' styling that characterised American design throughout the 1930s and early 1940s. Bel Geddes was a prolific designer who designed cars, trains, theatrical sets and exhibitions for world fairs, including the 1934 century of Progress Exhibition in Chicago and the New York World's Fair of 1939, where 'Futurama', his model of the city of 1960 for the General Motors exhibit, envisioned skyscrapers and double-decker streets.

Despite his interest in the smooth rounded shapes, strong horizontal lines and aerodynamic styling of streamlining, Geddes choose a rectilinear casing for his 'Stars and Stripes' American Flag design for 'The Patriot', which was manufactured by the Emerson Radio and Phonograph Corporation. The radio was made from Opalon, a thermoplastic similar to Bakelite, which came into widespread use in the 1930s and was available in various combinations of three colours: red, white and blue. The knobs were blind embossed with stars to further reinforce the patriotic message. The 'Patriot' radio was heavily promoted with Uncle Sam top-hat imagery and was linked to Emerson's 25th anniversary of radio business. Overall, Bel Geddes aimed to convey ideas of industrial and technological prowess and instill a sense of national pride in his design as America emerged from the Great Depression. A variant, the Aristocrat, was also available in at least seven other colour schemes.