Created by the Society’s current Intern, Josie Dickinson from CalState Fullerton.

History of Presidents’ Day (from writingexplained.org)
The holiday now colloquially referred to as Presidents’ Day is actually officially known as Washington’s Birthday. It began in 1879 by an act of Congress for government offices in the District of Columbia. By 1885, it was expanded to include all federal offices, and state governments soon joined in on making the day a holiday.

Since this was the first federal holiday to honor any U.S. president, the holiday was celebrated on George Washington’s birthday, February 22nd.

The holiday changed dates, however, in the early 1970s as a part of the Uniform Holiday Monday Act. This change, led by a coalition of travel organizations, was designed to give federal workers certain holidays on Mondays to create a number of long weekends throughout the year.

As a result of the date change, the name Washington’s Birthday became a misnomer since the law now placed the holiday on the Monday between February 15 and 21, yet Washington’s Birthday is the 22nd. There were some who led a charge to officially change the name of the holiday to Presidents’ Day, in honor of both Lincoln and Washington, both of whom have birthdays in February, but Congress rejected the proposal.

Despite this, there is a widespread belief that the day has been officially renamed, a belief that is only reinforced by all of the advertising surrounding Presidents’ Day Weekend and by looking at a calendar to see that Washington’s Birthday can never actually coincide with the holiday.

While the name may not be officially changed, Presidents’ Day is extremely common and a completely acceptable way to refer to the holiday, and to many state governments, the holiday is officially known as Presidents’ Day.