FEBRUARY 17, 2020 – When I was in grade school, everyone knew Lincoln’s birthday and Washington’s. Those dates were as common knowledge as the fact that Fourth of July fell on . . . July 4.
But with the Uniform Federal Holidays Act of 1971, many holidays, including Washington’s birthday, were moved to the closest Monday. Untethered from the actual date of his birthday, the holiday honoring Washington morphed into “Presidents Day,” and school children stopped learning the date of his birthday. It took me until February 22, 2005 to appreciate this development. On that date, our family arrived in Phoenix for a weeklong vacation up in Sedona. At the car rental counter, we were assisted by a 20-something guy whose shift had just begun.
As he filled out a form, he reached the date field. “Date,” he said. “What’s the date today?”
“Washington’s birthday,” I said.
“Huh?”
“You know, George Washington, our first president.”
“Yeah, I know, but I don’t know his birthday,” said the guy.
I was shocked by his ignorance. “February 22—that’s today,” I said. “Today is George Washington’s birthday . . . and February 12 was Lincoln’s birthday.” Two for one.
“Oh yeah?” the guy said.
I take issue with changing “Washington’s Birthday” to the generic “Presidents Day.” Washington turned rabble into an army and defeated an empire. He presided over the Constitutional Convention and was instrumental in getting the Constitution ratified. He was elected and re-elected president unanimously, and perhaps his single greatest act of patriotism was to step down voluntarily. That he should be grouped with all of his successors is nothing short of scandalous.
Abraham Lincoln, the other “February president,” is also worthy of membership in the American pantheon of political heroes—unless, I suppose, you drive a pick-up truck with big Confederate flags fluttering from posts mounted to the rear end of the vehicle. Lincoln faced the biggest crisis of our history and managed to hold the nation together despite a four-year civil war so bloody it became known as the Civil War, killing and wounding more American soldiers than in all subsequent wars combined. After accomplishing the impossible, Lincoln was assassinated—for having accomplished the impossible.
Lest you doubt our debt to Washington and Lincoln, read and re-read, Washington’s Farewell Speech and Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Speech.
Did George and Abe have flaws by today’s standards? Of course. George owned slaves and had deserters shot. In the middle of the Civil War, Abe sent federal troops to Minnesota to crush the Dakota Indian uprising of 1862. Despite commuting a number of sentences of convicted warriors who were prosecuted in the aftermath of the uprising, Lincoln still allowed the largest mass execution in American history to proceed.
But sorry, whatever their shortcomings, Washington and Lincoln were shining stars compared to a president like Warren G. Harding, whose primary accomplishment as president was the Teapot Dome scandal. And then there’s the guy who currently occupies the White House. I, for one, refuse to think of him when I think of “Presidents Day.”
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© 2020 by Eric Nilsson
