Well, it’s Monday – February 20th, 2012 – and many of us have the day off – celebrating “Presidents' Day”, which is also known as "Washington's Birthday".
Yes, some states – including Arizona & Massachusetts, do celebrate Presidents' Day as a state holiday BUT remember President’s Day has never been recognized at the federal level. On the national level, the third Monday of February is the official observance of Washington's Birthday.
And did you realize, that some states that don’t honor/celebrate Presidents Day or Washington’s Birthday - those states that don't (according to Wikipedia) are Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, Rhode Island and Wisconsin.
Washington's Birthday, February 22nd, was first declared a federal holiday by an 1879 act of Congress.. In 1968, legislation was enacted that affected several federal holidays celebrated at that time and one of the holidays, was Washington's Birthday this act was put in place in the hopes of simplifying the yearly calendar of holidays. President’s Day is now observed on the third Monday of February throughout the United States.
A common misconception is that Presidents' Day is the unification of Washington's Birthday and Lincoln's Birthday, or that it is a celebration of all U.S. Presidents, but neither of these are true..
And because we follow the school calendars - our computer classes are not held on Presidents Day - Washington's Birthday, so enjoy your day off.. I know we will...
Showing posts with label presidents day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label presidents day. Show all posts
Monday, February 20, 2012
Monday, February 21, 2011
President’s Day ~ Washington's Birthday
A little trivia about President’s Day, which is celebrated today Monday, February 21st this year and Presidents in general.. Did you know that:
THE THIRD MONDAY IN FEBRUARY is designated in the United States as Washington's Birthday, but now commonly known as Presidents Day.
1885 IS WHEN WASHINGTON’S BIRTHDAY BECAME A FEDERAL HOLIDAY – although many across the newly formed United States celebrated Washington's Birthday in the 17th century while George Washington was still alive, it didn’t become a federal holiday until 1885 when Chester Arthur signed the official bill
BARACK OBAMA IS OUR 44TH PRESIDENT, but there actually have only been 43 presidents: Cleveland was elected for two nonconsecutive terms and is counted twice, as our 22nd and 24th president.
EIGHT PRESIDENTS WERE BORN BRITISH SUBJECTS: Washington, J. Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, J. Q. Adams, Jackson, and W. Harrison.
NINE PRESIDENTS NEVER ATTENDED COLLEGE: Washington, Jackson, Van Buren, Taylor, Fillmore, Lincoln, A. Johnson, Cleveland, and Truman. The college that has the most presidents as alumni (seven in total) is Harvard: J. Adams, J. Q. Adams, T. Roosevelt, F. Roosevelt, Kennedy, G. W. Bush (business school), and Barack Obama (law school). Yale is a close second, with five presidents as alumni: Taft, Ford (law school), G.H.W. Bush, Clinton (law school), and G. W. Bush.
PRESIDENTS WHO WOULD BE CONSIDERED "WASHINGTON OUTSIDERS" (i.e., the 18 presidents who never served in Congress) are: Washington, J. Adams, Jefferson, Taylor, Grant, Arthur, Cleveland, T. Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson, Coolidge, Hoover, F. Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Carter, Reagan, Clinton, and G. W. Bush.
MOST COMMON RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION among presidents has been Episcopalian, followed by Presbyterian.
ANCESTRY OF 42 PRESIDENTS is limited to the following seven heritages, or some combination thereof: Dutch, English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Swiss, or German.
BARACK OBAMA IS THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN to be elected president of the United States. He was also born in Hawaii, making him the first president not born in the continental United States.
OLDEST & YOUNGEST PRESIDENTS: The oldest elected president was Reagan (age 69); the youngest was Kennedy (age 43). Theodore Roosevelt, however, was the youngest man to become president—he was 42 when he succeeded McKinley, who had been assassinated.
THE OLDEST LIVING FORMER PRESIDENT: was Gerald Ford, who was born on July 14, 1913, and died on Dec.27, 2006, at age 93. The second oldest was Ronald Reagan, who also lived to be 93 years.
TALLEST & SHORTEST PRESIDENTS: The tallest president was Lincoln at 6'4"; at 5'4", Madison was the shortest.
EIGHT LEFT-HANDED PRESIDENTS: James A. Garfield, Herbert Hoover, Harry S. Truman, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama
These trivia facts were from the following websites:
http://americanhistory.about.com/od/holidays/tp/presidents_day.htm
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