PRESIDENTS DAY

The holiday is widely known as "Presidents Day" and is often an occasion to celebrate, or at least remember, all presidents and not just George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Both Lincoln's and Washington's birthdays are in February and most often they are regarded as the top two presidents of our nation.

Traditionally, Presidents Day was Washington's birthday. It was celebrated as a public holiday on February 22 each year, in peace or in war.

Although Lincoln's birthday, February 12, was never a federal holiday, an early draft of the Uniform Monday Holiday Act renamed the holiday "Presidents Day" to honor the birthdays of both Washington and Lincoln, which would explain why the chosen date falls between the two birth dates. The bill was voted on and signed into law on June 28, 1968.

Washington's Birthday is known officially as Presidents Day in Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Maryland, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Tennessee, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming; Lincoln/Washington/Presidents Day in Arizona, George Washington's Birthday and Daisy Gatson Bates Day in Arkansas, Presidents Day in Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Vermont; Washington's Birthday/Presidents Day in Maine, Presidents Day in Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, and Oregon, Lincoln's and Washington's Birthday in Montana, Recognition of the birthday of George Washington in North Dakota, Washington and Lincoln Day in Utah, and George Washington Day in Virginia.