Washington's Birthday
 

Yesterday was a Federal holiday named Washington's Birthday. The holiday was created in 1879. It was not President's Day and it never has been. Also, there has never been a Federal holiday to celebrate Lincoln's Birthday.

Something wrong when the greatest American are not honored by their own special day

To me yesterday was Washington's Birthday. When I lived and worked in the D.C. area in the mid to late 1960s the Washington's Birthday sales in the stores on F Street were incredible. I remember buying a formal coat and tails which fit me like it was tailored for me for $22. I gave it to a close friend my size who played in the National Symphony. He wore it at performances requiring such attire.

I believe GW was born on the 22nd same as me, not the same year, I was a few years later. But since federal employees wanted a long weekend, it was moved to the Monday nearest his day which was renamed Pres Day to avoid confusion of his actual birthday. Which really just did create even more confusion, which is odd considering the government never creates confusion.

Wrong. The holiday was moved to a Monday, as well as other Federal holidays. But the Federal holiday was never changed to President's Day. It is named Washington's Birthday and it always has been. There is no Federal holiday named President's Day.

Some state holidays are named President's Day, but not the Federal holiday. There is a lot of misinformation in the media about this subject.

I'm okay with there being just one day a year to celebrate the birthday, deathday, wedding anniversary, bar mitzvah, mom's favorite boy's special dinner option day, or whatever else. The last thing we all need is ANOTHER paid day off for the government and banks, and ANOTHER reason to close schools and halt their education for another day, ALL for the celebration of a single individual.

I'd be okay with an Election Day becoming a Federal holiday. But no, not a day to celebrate any individual president. President's Day is a great idea. Federalize it, and ditch Washington and Lincoln and whoever else. And maybe they could add "Presidents of the United States" as a mandatory curriculum item in school history classes, the month before that day (whenever it is).

Fine, but there are some in the media who want to do away with President's Day, when it doesn't even exist. There is no President's Day and there never has been, except for some state holidays. Some people on national TV are spreading false information that there is a national President's Day that needs to be eliminated.

Retired, everyday is a Holiday for me.

Washington was the greatest president we ever had. Without him, there would be no United States.

If Lincoln lost the war, there would still be the US, just smaller than today.

Presidents Day
 

You are correct Washington was born on Feb 22nd. Also Lincoln was born on February 12th. They combined the two Presidents birthdays to make it Presidents Day and set it for the Monday in between the two Presidents. Making it a Monday, so Federal employees could have a long weekend...

They both deserve their own day. Get rid of one or two more recent federal holidays.

If Lincoln had lost the war we wouldn’t presently be living in the US.

Just another perverse narrative which points to the indifference we place on our great heroes of American history. Without the amazing courage and tenacity of this leader we would NOT have our "FREE" country. (the same respect should be shown to Abraham Lincoln.)

George Washington was born in Virginia on February 11, 1731, according to the then-used Julian calendar. In 1752, however, Britain and all its colonies adopted the Gregorian calendar which moved Washington's birthday a year and 11 days to February 22, 1732.

From: George Washington's Birthday | National Archives.

If you want to nitpick details and formalities... Washington was not born on Feb 22nd. He was born on what a calendar in 1731 would tell you was Feb 11th. Julian calendar recalculation did a job on messing up dates.

President Clinton might have disagreed with your assertion that there is no Presidents' Day when in 2000 he issued a Presidential Proclamation

Of grammatical interest... the proclamation uses both options for placement of the apostrophe. Or somebody didn't notice

And our Federal government Presidents' Day | GovInfo has a webpage giving the history of Presidents' Day. It does explain that no Federal rule has given it that name but the common usage, everyone's calendar, and society have settled on assigning Presidents' Day to the 3rd Monday in February.

Wrong. Who is they? Only Congess can create a Federal holiday. They never created a Federal holiday named President's Day, and they never created a Federal holiday for Lincoln.

Yes he was born Feb 22nd. The wrong birthday due to the British calendar was just a theory just like the theory he fathered a child from his slave.

Lyndon Johnson in 1968 moved 4 holidays to Mondays so there would be a 3 day weekend. Washington's birthday was moved to a Monday on that. It was known as the Uniform Monday Holiday Act.

Argument has long been that once it was moved to Monday it no longer actually celebrated his birthday, so it came to be known as Presidents Day. Of course Clinton verified it.

At GSA it was Presidents Day and it was a day off.

I'm not seeing the problem here. If it doesn't exist in the first place, then why would anyone care if everyone wants it eradicated?

However, it IS a Federal holiday. It's one of the 11 holidays recognized by the Federal Reserve, which is why banks nationwide are closed on Presidents' Day. It's why there's no mail that day, the DMV and all non-essential government offices are closed that day.

I'd get rid of Christmas day as a Federal holiday, because it's a religious holiday and Christianity is not an official National Religion.

I'd also get rid of Labor Day, because it is a hypocritical "holiday" forcing retail and other service employees to work EXTRA that day. It doesn't honor labor at all.

Where were the flags
 

I don't care what day you make it and what you call it but when you talk about celebrating some of the most wonderful presidents we had, why don't they put up flags?

reason to close schools and halt their education for another day!

Agree, public education get enough days off with all semester/ holidays breaks. Why we are behind in education vs dollars spent.

Naa not really only reason business are open to make money. They don’t have to close on any holiday, employees know this when they got hired on. Easter not federal holiday yet many businesses Are closed not to mention public school holiday. IMO they should be only two federal holidays, Memorial Day, and Veterans Day. They only ones who sacrificed for country. But we know how far opinions go…

Geoge's Birthday
 

Isn't Georges birthday February 22 and Lincoln's is February 12:crap2:

Is it celebrated in the gulf of america?

Easter isn't a public school holiday. Easter is always on a Sunday. Public schools are always closed on Sunday. Easter being a holiday has zero effect on public schools at all.

You should honor veterans every day. If you need a specific day of the year to honor them, then you're doing it wrong.