ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
The U.S. has had 46 presidents during its nearly 250-year history, and Monday is a day to commemorate them with Presidents Day.
According to History.com, Presidents Day originally honored only the country’s first president, George Washington.
“Following the death of George Washington in 1799, his February 22 birthday became a perennial day of remembrance,” History.com noted. “At the time, Washington was venerated as the most important figure in American history, and events like the 1832 centennial of his birth and the start of construction of the Washington Monument in 1848 were cause for national celebration. While Washington’s Birthday was an unofficial observance for most of the 1800s, it was not until the late 1870s that it became a federal holiday. Senator Stephen Wallace Dorsey of Arkansas was the first to propose the measure, and in 1879 President Rutherford B. Hayes signed it into law. The holiday initially only applied to the District of Columbia, but in 1885 it was expanded to the whole country. At the time, Washington’s Birthday joined four other nationally recognized federal bank holidays – Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving – and was the first to celebrate the life of an individual American. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, signed into law in 1983, was the second.”
Later on, according to Britannica, the holiday was expanded even more.
“In 1968 Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Bill, which moved a number of federal holidays to Mondays. The change was designed to schedule certain holidays so that workers had a number of long weekends throughout the year, but it has been opposed by those who believe that those holidays should be celebrated on the dates they actually commemorate,” Britannica.com noted. “During debate on the bill, it was proposed that Washington’s Birthday be renamed Presidents’ Day to honour the birthdays of both Washington (February 22) and Lincoln (February 12); although Lincoln’s birthday was celebrated in many states, it was never an official federal holiday. Following much discussion, Congress rejected the name change. After the bill went into effect in 1971, however, Presidents’ Day became the commonly accepted name, due in part to retailers’ use of that name to promote sales and the holiday’s proximity to Lincoln’s birthday.”
Some states have even chosen to customize the holiday by honoring other historical figures, according to History.com.
“Some states have even chosen to customize the holiday by adding new figures to the celebration. Arkansas, for instance, celebrates Washington as well as civil rights activist Daisy Gatson Bates. Alabama, meanwhile, uses Presidents' Day to commemorate Washington and Thomas Jefferson, who was born in April,” History.com noted. “Washington and Lincoln still remain the two most recognized leaders, but Presidents' Day is now popularly seen as a day to recognize the lives and achievements of all of America’s chief executives. Some lawmakers have objected to this view, arguing that grouping George Washington and Abraham Lincoln together with less successful presidents minimizes their legacies. Congressional measures to restore Washington and Lincoln’s individual birthdays were proposed during the early 2000s, but all failed to gain much attention. For its part, the federal government has held fast to the original incarnation of the holiday as a celebration of the country’s first president. The third Monday in February is still listed on official calendars as Washington’s Birthday.”
FUN PRESIDENTIAL FACTS (courtesy of the Leavitt Group)
• William Henry Harrison was the first to die in office – after only one month’s service.
• Abraham Lincoln is believed to have had Marfan syndrome, a genetic disorder that affects connective tissue and could explain his tall stature of 6’4″.
• John Quincy Adams started keeping a journal in 1779. By the time he passed away in 1848, he had written 50 volumes. His journals have been cited by many historians as first-hand accounts of the formation of the early United States.
• James Madison was the shortest president, standing at 5’4″ and weighing just over 100 pounds.
• Harry S. Truman never earned a college degree. He was a talented student and received good grades in most of his classes, but due to his family’s finances he was not able to pursue higher education. He was the last president of the United States to not have a college degree.
• John F. Kennedy was the youngest man elected as president of the United States. When he was assassinated, he was the youngest president to die in office.
• Benjamin Harrison was afraid of touching light switches because he was worried about getting electrocuted.
• John Tyler fathered 15 children, more than any other president. He also has two living grandchildren as of 2024.
