President's Day: Not What You Expected

President's Day is a holiday that is celebrated in many different ways... just not the ways that you may expect. It's not that everyone has a cool different craft or neat idea for advertising used cars, instead, it's that the holiday isn't what we think it is. In fact, it's not even really called "President's Day." It's still "Washington's Birthday."

Originally, President's Day was celebrated as a federal holiday to remember and honor our first president, George Washington, on his birthday. However, after Abraham Lincoln's presidency, many northern states started to celebrate the newer president's birthday at around the same time. When the official celebration of Washington's birthday was changed to the 3rd Monday in February, it started to confuse people: who's birthday was being celebrated?

Adding to the confusion is the fact that Nixon proclaimed the 3rd Monday in 1971 to be President's Day to honor all past and future presidents. However, the proclamation didn't apply to all 3rd Mondays after that...

And...apparently, 12 states have proclaimed their own "President's Day" for the 3rd Monday in February, even though in New Mexico, President's Day is observed on the day after Thanksgiving!
So, on the 3rd Monday in February, most of us aren't celebrating what we expected! Now  you know that the real name of the holiday is still "Washington's Birthday."

Citations from the TexShare database: EBSCO:
Maxwell, D. (2008, February). The Presidents' Day Game. (Cover story). Library Media Connection. pp. 32-33.

Zipp, Y. (2010, February 15). Presidents Day 2010: facts about a holiday with an identity crisis. Christian Science Monitor. p. N.PAG.