On Monday America will celebrate a day that isn’t. Millions of
desk and wall calendars will show the third Monday of February as
“Presidents’ Day,” but there is no such thing and thereby hangs a
tale.
Sixty-one years ago, in 1951, a Californian named Harold
Stonebridge Fischer formed the President’s Day National
Committee with the intention of creating a holiday that would honor
the office of the presidency, but no particular president.
He found some like-minded people to fill out his committee and push
the idea and he must have acquired some financial donors, for he
was executive director of the committee for the next two
decades.
He lobbied Congress, proposing March 4, the original
Inauguration Day, as the date for “Presidents’ Day,” but the bill
to make it happen became stalled in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Several members were concerned that adding a third holiday to
celebrations of Washington’s and Lincoln’s birthday would be bad
for the economy. Several state governors issued
proclamations declaring March 4 to be “Presidents’ Day” in their
states.
Nevertheless, the federal bill went into
hibernation.
In 1968 sentiment grew for a Uniform Monday Holiday Act
that would move several national holidays from their specific dates
to the nearest Monday, thereby reducing down-time for the economy
and giving workers a series of three-day holidays. An early draft
of the enabling bill would have renamed the Washington’s Birthday
holiday “Presidents’ Day” to honor both Washington and Lincoln,
whose birthday is on February 12 and has never been a national
holiday.
The bill passed and was signed into law as the Uniform
Monday Holiday Act on June 28 that year. George Washington’s
birthday, February 22, was moved from that date to the third Monday
of the month and remains officially, the George Washington’s
Birthday Holiday. The term “Presidents’ Day” is not mentioned in
the Act.
Some Lincoln devotees saw the name “Presidents’ Day” as an
opportunity to use the new dating of the holiday to honor both men.
Three states, Illinois, Missouri and Connecticut set February 12
aside as a state holiday to specifically honor
Lincoln.
Other states have their own take on the George
Washington’s Birthday Holiday. Massachusetts state law requires the
governor to issue a “Presidents’ Day” proclamation on May 29 every
year to honor four presidents with roots in the state: John Adams,
John Quincy Adams, Calvin Coolidge and John F. Kennedy.
Alabama calls the holiday “Washington and Jefferson Day,”
although Thomas Jefferson was born in April.
Used car and mattress salesmen, however, love what they
call “Presidents’ Day,” as they salivate over plans for three-day
weekend sales. Beginning in the 1980s advertisers began to use the
“Presidents’ Day” designation apparently because it had a snappier
sound than “Washington’s Birthday.” The growing repetition of the
fake name led calendar producers do put it on their products
without verifying it.
It has been said that a day that honors all presidents
honors none. After all, who stops to think about William Henry
Harrison, Franklin Pierce, or Chester A. Arthur on the third Monday
of February? Many people may be confused about the day, but the
Wikipedia Encyclopedia isn’t. If you go to Wikipedia and enter
“Presidents’ Day,” it will redirect you to “Washington’s Birthday.”
As will Google.
Mr. Hannaford is the author of
The Essential George Washington.
