President's Day

President’s Day is unique among federal holidays in the United States in that it does not exist. We observe George Washington’s Birthday, the real name of the holiday, as it has been since 1879, and not President’s Day. Since this holiday never falls on Washington’s actual birthday, even its official name is a misnomer. Depending on whether you use the calendar in use at the time of Washington’s birth (Julian) or his death (Gregorian), he was born on either February 11 or February 22. It is a holiday that is observed but not really celebrated, unless you count retail discounts and promotions. Since most people either could not tell you its true purpose or incorrectly suppose it has something officially to do with Abraham Lincoln, it is probably all the better. In 1971, the Uniform Holiday Law simply moved Washington’s Birthday to the third Monday in February. Efforts to change its name or add Lincoln failed.

So what can this misnomer-of-a-holiday teach us?

1. What retailers call something is more important than what the Government does. Why do we call it Presidents Day? Because this sounds better to an advertiser than “George Washington’s Birthday Sales.” Retailers did not use the term first. Where the government would not merge Lincoln’s and Washington’s birthdays officially, consumers now do, because retailers made it so. They did just this, selling their products under the banners of Washington, Lincoln, and a new “Presidents Day.” The fact that no such holiday formally exists has deterred no one.

2. Americans have their favorite Presidents, and they are George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Whereas Abraham Lincoln’s birthday was never a federal holiday, it was and still is observed on a state level. It has been since the 19th century a public holiday of sorts. Even today, we think of “Presidents Day” as belonging to the Great Emancipator and its true namesake, Washington. We celebrate no other President’s birthday nationally, even those born in proximity to early-mid February.

3. After Lincoln and Washington, we can’t agree on which President is best. In 1999, Senator Dick Durbin introduced legislation renaming President’s Day to just that, and singling out for special kudos: Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, and Franklin Roosevelt (born January 30). The bill, which had a companion in the House, never advanced. Indeed, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the term Presidents Day was nixed because of a feeling among some that not all Presidents were worthy of the honor and that members of one party would not jump at honoring Presidents of another. Of note, Ronald Reagan was born on February 6, and William Henry Harrison on February 9.

4. The warnings of politicians in the 1960s proved true. During the debate to change the date of Washington’s birthday, one representative from Tennessee said, “If we do this, 10 years from now our schoolchildren will not know or care when George Washington was born. They will know that in the middle of February they will have a 3-day weekend for some reason. This will come.” Yet another Congressman warned, “I have an idea if we make Monday holidays, to fulfill the promise to merchants that they are going to do a better business, that employees of the stores of this country will have no holidays. They will work at selling merchandise. That is about what will happen.”

5. Federal holidays can be negotiated. Some wanted the holiday named “Presidents Day” to ensure Abraham Lincoln’s inclusion. The compromise: keep the holiday name the same but simply move it to the third Monday, bringing it closer to Lincoln's birthday.

Kendall had a day off and I worked. Tomorrow - back to school :-)

Buenas noches!