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Monthly Spotlight: Presidents Day

Presidents Day

Presidents’ Day is a holiday in the United States (the third Monday in February) popularly recognized as honoring George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. The day is sometimes understood as a celebration of the birthdays and lives of all U.S. presidents.

The origin of Presidents’ Day lies in the 1880s when the birthday of Washington—commander of the Continental Army during the American Revolution and the first president of the United States—was first celebrated as a federal holiday. 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. 

During the debate on the bill, it was proposed that Washington’s Birthday be renamed Presidents’ Day to honor 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. Presidents’ Day is usually marked by public ceremonies in Washington, D.C., and throughout the country. -Britannica

  • Presidents Day is celebrated on the third Monday in February, thanks to the 1968 Uniform Monday Holiday Act
  • It was established in 1885 in honor of President George Washington’s birthday
    • George Washington has two birthdays because he was born on February 11, 1731, according to the Julian calendar, but his birthday was moved to February 22, 1732, when the Gregorian calendar was adopted in 1752.
    • This year is his 292nd birthday
  • Washington’s birthplace is a national monument and is located in Colonial Beach, VA
    • Lincoln’s birthplace is a national historical park and is located in Hodgenville, Kentucky
  • It is still officially called Washington’s Birthday by the federal government
    • The government debated renaming the holiday to Presidents Day to include President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, but the proposal failed in committees
      • Lincoln’s birthday was actually on February 12, 1809 (This would be his 215th birthday)
  • President Ulysses S. Grant established Yellowstone as the first national park
    • President Theodore Roosevelt has the most national parks named in his honor
      • Lincoln is a close runner-up for that title
  • Adams National Historical Park was the birthplace of two presidents: John Adams and John Quincy Adams
  • Abraham Lincoln was 6 feet, 4 inches (1.9 meters), making him the tallest U.S. president.
    • So was Lyndon B Johnson
    • Standing at 5’4’’, James Madison was the shortest U.S. president. He only weighed about 100 pounds.
  • The first left-handed president was James Garfield, the 20th president.
  • Millard Fillmore, the 13th president, was the first president to have a stepmother.
  • The only president who studied to become a medical doctor was William Henry Harrison, the ninth president.
  • The 18th president of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant, was given a $20 speeding ticket for riding his horse and buggy too fast down a street in Washington, D.C. (about $518 in today's prices)
    • William McKinley was the first U.S. president to ride in an automobile
    • Teddy Roosevelt was the first president to ride in a car while in office.
      • Franklin Delano Roosevelt, his fifth cousin and the 32nd president, was the first to ride in an airplane.
  • The White House's first website went online in October 1994 during President Bill Clinton's administration.
  • Theodor Roosevelt officially named it the White House.
    • People called the building the President's Palace, the President's House, and the Executive Mansion.
  • Jimmy Carter, the 39th president, was a peanut farmer.
    • Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president, once worked chopping rails for fences.
    • Andrew Johnson, the 17th president of the United States, was a tailor before he was president.
    • Harry Truman, the 33rd president, was a haberdasher, someone who deals in men's clothing and accessories, particularly hats.
  • Only one U.S. president has spoken English as a second language.
    • Martin Van Buren’s first language was Dutch.
  • After sustaining an injury in a boxing match with Col. Daniel T. Moore, his military aide, Teddy Roosevelt was permanently blinded in his left eye.
  • In 1849, James K. Polk was the first president to have his picture taken as a photograph while in office.
    • The photographer was Matthew Brady and the shot was snapped in New York City.
  • James Buchanan remains the only president to have never been married.
  • In 1891 during the presidency of Benjamin Harrison, electricity was introduced in the White House.
    • Because he reportedly got shocked one time, Harrison and his family members would often avoid touching light switches and were known to have left the lights on at night because of this.
  • William Howard Taft was the first sitting president to toss the ceremonial first pitch at a Major League Baseball game.
  • John Tyler was the father of 15 children, the most of any president.
    • His first wife had eight children and his second had seven
    • They were born between 1815 and 1860. (a 45-year age gap)
  • Herbert Hoover had a son, Allan Henry, who owned two pet alligators.
    • The gators occasionally would run loose around the White House, although they were normally kept in a bathtub.
  • Before becoming president, Jimmy Carter filed a UFO sighting report with the International UFO Bureau on Sept. 18, 1973.
  • The first telephone was installed in the White House in 1877 during the presidency of Rutherford B.
    • Its phone number: 1
  • Calvin Coolidge had a pet raccoon named Rebecca
    • He pardoned her for Thanksgiving in 1926 and then kept her as a pet
  • George H. W. Bush banned broccoli from being served on Air Force One because he disliked it so much
  • Grover Cleveland’s sister, Rose Cleveland, served as First Lady in the infancy of his presidency before he married.
  • Gerald Ford was a model on the cover of Cosmopolitan magazine in 1942.
    • Although, he was not credited for the appearance with his then-girlfriend Phyllis Brown
  • John Quincy Adams actually signed off on a real-life expedition to the center of the Earth.

Information from the National Archives, Saint Leo University, Kids Nat Geo, and the National Park Foundation.

George Washington  John Adams  Thomas Jefferson  James Madison  James Monroe  John Quincey Adams  Andrew Jackson  Martin Van Buren  William Henry Harrison  John Tyler  James K Polk  Zachary Taylor  Millard Filmore  Franklin Pierce  James Buchanan  Abraham Lincoln Andrew Johnson  Ulysses S Grant  Rutherford B Hayes  James A Garfield  Chester Arthur  Grover Cleveland  Benjamin Harrison  William McKinley  Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt  William Howard Taft  Woodrow Wilson  Warren Harding  Calvin Coolidge  Herbert Hoover  Franklin D Roosevelt  Harry S Truman  Dwight D Eisenhower  John F Kennedy  Lyndon B Johnson  Richard M Nixon  Gerald Ford  James "Jimmy" Carter  Ronald Reagan  George H W Bush  Bill Clinton  George W Bush  Barack Obama  Donald J Trump  Joseph "Joe" Biden

The Reference Shelf: Representative American speeches, 2023-2024   Peril by Bob Woodward    Presidential Authority by Micah L Issitt 

 Executive Orders    American sphinx : the character of Thomas Jefferson   President McKinley : architect of the American century

The Indian world of George Washington : the first President, the first Americans, and the birth of the nation   Lincoln and the abolitionists : John Quincy Adams, slavery, and the Civil War   The Foundation of the CIA : Harry Truman, the Missouri Gang, and the origins of the Cold War