Who do we celebrate on President's Day?
Popular culture tells us that when I was a little girl, we used to celebrate Washington's birthday and Lincoln's birthday along with Valentine's Day every February. However, due to the difficulty in having two such paid holidays, Washington and Lincoln's birthday celebrations were combined and called President's Day. These stories began circulating in the 1950's. Adding to the confusion of these rumors was the notion that President Nixon is credited with changing Washingtong's birthday to President's Day commemorating ALL presidents including himself. Nixon did issue an Executive Order declaring the third Monday of February as Washington's Birthday, but the notion he called for it to be called President's Day celebrating all presidents was actually from a newspaper spoof. According to this snopes article, in 1968, the New York Times reported:...