This year, February 15 is one of the lesser recognized and celebrated holidays: President’s Day, a holiday predominantly characterized by major sales and taking a day off. It’s widely known that during the three day weekend, you’ll be able to score a deal on cars, appliances, and mattresses. However, the majority of people don’t really know what we’re actually “celebrating” with these great deals. If you’re curious like me, you decided that this year you’ll do some googling and figure out what this holiday is and why you actually get to sleep in.
As it turns out, it’s not actually called “President’s Day” and instead is officially and federally known as “George Washington’s Birthday,” (though the name “President’s Day” was unsuccessfully proposed as a substitute in 1951.) Some states have decided to take their own interpretations to the holiday, referring to it as President’s Day to specifically recognize both Washington and Abraham Lincoln’s birthdays. Regardless of what you, or your state call it, the official title is George Washington’s Birthday.
While the official title of our day off is George Washington’s Birthday, the story is more complex than this. February 15th is not actually George Washington’s birthday. On a modern calendar, he was born on February 22 (but even that is not exactly accurate to the time period when they used an entirely different calendar. If you want to hear more about why that is, I highly suggest watching this short video by George Washington’s Mount Vernon.
As a country, we have been celebrating his birthday on the third Monday in February every year since 1971 when the “Uniform Monday Holiday Bill,” went into action. This bill, supported by former president Richard Nixon and signed in 1968, would move the dates of a handful of federal holidays to Mondays to ensure that federal workers would have more three day weekends. Washington’s birthday was affected along with Memorial Day, Columbus Day, and Labor Day.
There are many people both in and out of the history field who believe that we should be observing these holidays on the actual days that they were originally intended to preserve their meaning. Until I did my research, I didn’t even know what President’s Day was about, and figured that we had a day to simply celebrate the executive branch. I’m not alone in this either—I put out some Instagram polls asking my followers if they knew what holiday we were celebrating this upcoming Monday, and the vast majority of them said “President’s Day.” Although incorrect, this unofficial title is extremely popular and it’s not shocking to see so many people calling it the wrong name. Also not shocking was the 64% of people who responded who didn’t know what it was really even about. Some joked that it was like I said earlier, a day full of sleeping in and taking advantage of three day weekend sales, whereas others felt it celebrated all presidents, and a few believed it actually celebrated Washington and Lincoln’s birthdays specifically.
With that being said, what or who should we really be celebrating on February 15? Though how and who you choose to celebrate on Monday is completely subjective, there is one obvious answer given the holiday’s real name; George Washington. Regardless of the actual date we’ve celebrated it, Washington’s birthday itself has been officially celebrated since 1879, signed into action by former president Rutherford B. Hayes. Washington is known for three main roles: being the first president of the United States, commander of the Continental Army during the American Revolution, and that he presided over the convention that drafted the U.S. Constitution. He is admired as a symbol of patriotism, heroism, and leadership. While Washington is generally remembered fondly, there are still aspects in his history that conflict with American values. For example, Washington had 317 enslaved people operating on his property at Mount Vernon when he died in 1799. His, along with several other founding fathers’, ownership of slaves was contradictory to the values of freedom and equality they wanted to uphold when they built the foundation for our country.
Needless to say, there are both “positive” and “negative” aspects in a variety of famous figures’ histories and Washington is no different. If you find yourself celebrating him, Abraham Lincoln, or any of the past (or current) presidents on February 15th, it’s important to remember that all people are multidimensional. Whether you celebrate George Washington’s Birthday by recognizing the man himself, recognizing another recent birthday of Abraham Lincoln, or thinking about all of the Presidents in American history, make sure to look at not only the accomplishments, but the pitfalls our leaders have made. By taking a long hard look at our leaders of the past, we can make the best, most informed decisions on deciding on our leaders of the future.
References:
https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/facts/the-truth-about-presidents-day
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Uniform-Monday-Holiday-Bill