I bet many folks don't know that if it were not for Martin Luther King Day we wouldn't have a national Presidents Day. George Washington was the first Presidential birthday to be recognized in 1880. Five years later, Washington's Birthday became a nationally celebrated holiday.
Fast forward 86 years later to 1971, when a bill was presented before Congress at the request of store advertisers to create a national President’s Day in honor of both February-born presidents, It was the hopes of these business people that a new holiday would help boost their sales.
President's Day was to honor both Abe Lincoln and George Washington. Lincoln’s birthday was never a federal holiday before this proposal. However, many states celebrated Lincoln's birthday unofficially and agreed to the bill for President’s Day.
When the bill came before the Judiciary Committee of Congress, they voted against changing George Washington’s Birthday to President’s Day thus nixing the first proposal for it to become a national holiday. It finally became a federal holiday in 1986, when Congress considered attributing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day on the second Monday of January.
Congress reconsidered the older bill concerning the previous federal Presidents holiday bill and created an all inclusive Presidents Day. This holiday is now celebrated on the third Monday of February in honor of both Washington and Lincoln and some say Presidents Day is the token holiday for all Presidents.
Some argue that Presidents Day is not for all Presidents, but legend has it that President Richard Nixon made a provision in 1971 under the Uniform Monday Holiday Act to include all United States Presidents. Each February the Law Library in the Library of Congress and the Nixon Library receive many calls on this very question. However, it must be noted that no official papers are in existence that proves Nixon made this provision.
Resources: MLK.gov;
GW Birthday
Gov Archives
