HISTORY OF PRESIDENTS DAY

   

For many, President’s Day means nothing more than a three day weekend and shopping, but the holiday was originally meant to commemorate our country’s founding father—President George Washington.

Originally signed into law by President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1879 and implemented in 1880, the federal holiday was the first to single out a citizen’s birthdate and only impacted District of Columbia federal workers at the time. In 1885, President Grover Cleveland signed a law extending the holiday to all federal workers in thirty-eight states, according to the National Archives and Records Administration. Less than a century later, the holiday was moved to the third Monday of February, largely spurred by the belief that the shift would reduce governmental employee absenteeism, allow citizens more time with their families and lead to increased industrial and commercial production, according to Congressional Record.Encouraged by these ideas the Nineteenth Congress of the United States passed the Uniformed Monday Holiday Law in 1968, officially moving Washington’s holiday to Monday as well as three others: Columbus Day, Memorial Day and Veterans Day. Due to its importance to many Americans, especially those who served their country, Veterans Day was returned to Nov.11 in 1978 to once again coincide with Armistice Day, which also commemorates the end of hostilities in World War I. How did the name of the holiday change? The original idea for changing the name of the holiday was presented by Representative Robert McClory, a Republican from Illinois, who was giving the task of propelling the 1968 Monday Holiday Law bill through the House Judiciary Committee, according to the National Archives. According to an article in the National Archives quarterly magazine, Prologue, McClory championed for the holiday to commemorate both Washington and President Abraham Lincoln, who was from McClory’s home state of Illinois. Had he been successful, McClory’s would have won recognition for “the land of Lincoln.”