Happy President’s Day

Today, February 18, 2019, is Presidents’ Day, a holiday centered around the birthdays of two former presidents: George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Officially, “Presidents’ Day” is a misnomer, as the holiday originated in 1879 as remembrance of George Washington’s birthday. The date for the holiday was reset by the Uniform Monday Holiday Act in 1971, so that the celebration now falls on the third Monday of February, placing it between the birthdays of both Washington and Lincoln. The official name of the holiday was never changed from the simple “George Washington’s Birthday,” so some states still legally refer to the holiday as such. From there, the actual scope of the holiday is somewhat subjective. While most states choose to celebrate the birthdays of both presidents, a few exceptions remain: Virginia, for example, is the home state of Washington, and so still refers to the day as “George Washington’s Birthday,” or “President’s Day.” Many schools have started closing for the week of the holiday, using the time as a mid-winter break. Until the 1980s, the holiday was treated in much the same fashion as Memorial Day, in that many corporate businesses and public services were suspended (the advertising boom of the 80s was also the time of the biggest pushes for renaming the holiday to “Presidents’ Day”). Now, many businesses are still operational during the celebration.