A history of President’s Day
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By Jeff Snyder
MOUNT AYR, Iowa — Originally, President’s Day was supposed to be a day that honored the first president of the United States, George Washington. In reality the federal holiday is quite a bit more complicated.
George Washington’s birthday was, and always has been February, 22. In the 18th century, England operated under the Julian calendar which indicated Washington’s birthday would have fallen on February 11. By 1752 the British adopted the current calendar format called the Gregorian calendar. By using this version of the calendar, Washington’s birthday shifted back to its original day of February 22. Complicated.
After Washington’s death in 1799, recognition of this milestone became more commonplace. It wasn’t until 1879 that Washington’s birthday became an official federal holiday. In fact, to this day, the commemoration is still labeled “Washington’s Birthday” in the official congressional record, not President’s Day. Each year, since 1896, Congress reads Washington’s farewell address on the floor of the United States Senate to honor the first president. The speech is 7,640 words long.
To complicate matters further, President Abraham Lincolns’ birthday falls on February 12. Eventually, Congress got together and decided to create a federal holiday that celebrated all presidents, past and present. Congress further decided to move the celebrations away from the actual dates associated with these specific presidents’ birthdays and adopt a universal day of celebration.
In the late 1960s, Congress passed the “Uniform Monday Holiday Act” of 1968. This holiday was moved to the third Monday of the month of February, thereby enabling federal workers to get a three day weekend. No kidding.
Since the adoption of the Universal Monday Holiday Act, most federal holidays now reflect a Monday, long weekend break for the federal workforce or periodically actually do fall on Monday or a Friday, effectively providing the same extended weekend.
There are 11 federal holidays. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, New Years Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas and finally President’s Day.
One additional consideration for the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, is the impact on retail sales. Everything from dishwashers to new cars are highly advertised during this three-day stretch throughout the year. The long winter and hangover from Christmas historically created a sales desert in the retail world, so manufacturing a holiday that enables people to get back into the spending mode once the shock of Christmas bills has worn off, was a much welcome respite for retailers.
Businesses connected to finance, banking or mail service and of course federal and state employees are generally granted this day off. The aforementioned retail establishments consider this day a mini Christmas season and fashion sales and promotions around this day of recognition
