A Remembrance of our Roots - History of a Confusing Holiday

Somewhere in the 2000's, a conflict surfaced in an agency where I worked, when the executive director, who I will refer to as Stan, made changes in our holiday schedule. He removed Presidents' Day from the schedule of days we had off and replaced it with Martin Luther King Day which had not been a holiday for us up until that point. Staff complained about the change, saying, "We would rather have a holiday in February than January". Stan replied, "It is extremely inappropriate for an agency that serves so many African American clients to not recognize Martin Luther King Day, and I respect him a lot more than most of our presidents anyway." My first thought was that Stan didn't quite understand the holiday of Presidents' Day. I was certain it was created to honor the two presidents that had birthdays in February - Lincoln and Washington. Their birthdays were both listed on the calendar and rather than having two separate celebrations, I assumed we combined them into one federal holiday. Then I saw a President's Day commercial in which a toddler was reciting the names of all the presidents, which confused me. Was Stan right?

This weekend a young news reporter asked another reporter why Presidents' Day is spelled differently in different states. In some places it is spelled "President's Day" or "Presidents Day", rather than "Presidents' Day". The other reporter said that she had no idea. She just knew that she had the day off and that was enough for her. Well, its not enough for me. I want to know what I'm supposed to be celebrating. Tired of confusion about this holiday, I decided to do some of my own research. 

President's Day was originally a celebration of George Washington's Birthday, which was celebrated right on his birthday, February 22. Washington's birthday became a federal holiday in the 1880's but it was still being celebrated with great fervor when Mom was a child in the 1930's and 40's. Mom said that not only did they get the day off from school, but all the children received axe-shaped boxes with candy cherries inside, and people made cherry pies. They did that because of the story of how Washington chopped down a cherry tree when he was a child. When his father asked about the tree, he said, "I cannot tell a lie. It was I who chopped down that cherry tree." Washington did many things in his life, such as crossing the icy Delaware River to defeat the British in the American Revolutionary War and presiding over the Constitutional Convention in 1787. However, the thing that stands out for most of us, outside of becoming the first US President, was his honesty about chopping down that tree.   

In 1968, the Uniform Monday Holiday Bill was passed. This bill indicated that three holidays, including Washington's Birthday, would be moved to a Monday, so workers could have a long weekend. Washington's birthday was then moved to the third Monday in February. At the same time, it was proposed that the name of the holiday be changed to Presidents' Day and become a celebration of the birthdays of both Washington and Lincoln. While the idea was originally rejected, the name did end up being changed in 1971. Retailers pushed for the change so they would have a longer period of time to throw special sales. Too bad they were thinking more about themselves than they were about Lincoln! 

Few people deserve to be added to a holiday more than Abraham Lincoln. A poor, self-educated man, he freed the slaves, declared equal rights for all and was nicknamed "Honest Abe" for his integrity as a politician and a lawyer. Lincoln beat three other men who also ran for president: Seward, Chase and Bates. Lincoln appointed all three of them to his cabinet, realizing that in spite of the fact that they disagreed with him on many issues, they had a lot to offer and he couldn't deprive the country of their strengths. Over the years, Lincoln's empathy, compassion and honesty won these men over. They began to respect him, became friends with him and eventually loved him. 

It appears that each state celebrates Presidents' Day a little differently, which explains the different spellings of the holiday. Some states still call it "Washington's Birthday". Some call it "Washington-Lincoln Day", and some states celebrate a different president along with Washington, like Jefferson. 

The Brittanica Encyclopedia states, "Presidents' Day is popularly recognized as honoring George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and is sometimes understood as a celebration of the birthdays and lives of all US Presidents." Regardless of who we celebrate, I think it is important to remember that the things that we dislike about particular presidents should not cause us to forget the acts of all of the other presidents who helped to make this nation what it has been for two hundred and fifty years. Our feelings about the acts of certain presidents should not take away from our feelings about the presidency in itself. 

   "O beautiful for heroes proved - in liberating strife, who more than self their country loved and mercy more than                 life! America! America! May God thy gold refine! Til' all success be nobleness and every gain divine!"  

                                               America the beautiful by Katherine Lee Bates (1893)