Quote:
Originally Posted by badgoodDeb
Any one remember when this first became a national holiday? Probably in the 70's, because I do remember (vaguely). They were merging George Washington's bday (2/11) and Abraham Lincoln's (2/22) and having only one holiday. That's why they call it President's Day.
And I remember this mostly because my baby brother (now 43) was born on Feb 22 too.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WT Sharpe
The two were celebrated separately until Congress voted to make Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a national holiday. Then the two were combined into President's Day in order to make room on the calender for Dr. King.
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What makes it more confusing is that Washington's birthday changed during his lifetime. Per Wikipedia (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington) he was born on 11 February, but the calendar was changed. Due to this his date of birth was moved to 22 February.