February 20, 2012 - Presidents' Day

n – U.S.

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Thenfirst president of the United States, George Washington, was born onnFebruary 22, 1732—and that date used to be vigorously celebrated bynAmericans.

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nAnothernimportant presidential birthday is remarkably close in the calendarnyear: Abraham Lincoln’s birthday is February 12. Some workers andnstudents are given both days off as holidays—and this was, perhaps,nmore common in the past (such as when I was a kid), since back thennwe didn’t have days off for Columbus Day or for Martin Luther King,nJr. n

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nNowadaysnwe tend to rearrange holidays for our school and businessnconvenience—and we often want our holidays on Mondays so that wenhave 3-day weekends. That’s why the federal and many statengovernments have moved the celebration of Washington’s birthday tonthe third Monday of February (although that date only ever fallsnbetween Feb. 15 and Feb. 21, and so it always missesnWashington’s actual birthday!). Even though many published calendarsnrefer to this holiday as Presidents’ Day, its name is stillnofficially Washington’s Birthday on the federal calendar.

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nStatengovernments often, but not always, follow holidays celebrated at thenfederal level. There is a confusing array of state holidays honoringnWashington and Lincoln. Some states celebrate neither, some celebratenonly one, some celebrate both bundled together with all othernpresidents, in Presidents’ Day, and some celebrate both with twon3-day weekends, back to back! Alabama states that its Presidents’ Dayncommemorates the birthdays of George Washington and Thomas Jeffersonn(although the latter was born in April!). n

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nStrangestnof all, to me, is that the state of Indiana has moved itsncommemoration of Lincoln’s birthday to the day after Thanksgiving (innNovember!), and the commemoration of Washington’s birthday to a datenjust before Christmas (in December!). Apparently Indiana governmentnofficials wanted to lengthen Thanksgiving and Christmas holidaynperiods without giving workers more paid holidays.

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nBynthe way, to add to the confusion, some sources give February 11 asnWashington’s birthday. That’s because, when George Washington wasnborn, the American colonies used the Julian calendar. We now mostnoften give dates as they would have been under our modern Gregorianncalendar.

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nDidnyou know…?

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L.B.J.

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nThen tallest U.S. presidents, at six feet four inches (193 cm), weren Abraham Lincoln and Lyndon B. Johnson. The shortest president, Jamesn Madison, was five feet four inches (163 cm). George Washington wasn just a smidge taller than current president Barack Obama (6 feet 1.5n inches, or 187 cm, and 6 feet 1 inch, or 185 cm, respectively).

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nOhion and Virginia have been the homes of the most presidents. (The countn depends on whether we count birthplace, major place of residence, orn residence when elected—but Ohio has produced 6 to 8 presidents,n and Virginia has produced 5 to 8.)

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J.F.K.

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nThen youngest U.S. president was Theodore Roosevelt, who became presidentn at age 42, when President McKinley was assassinated. The youngestn president to be elected to the office was John F. Kennedy, at agen 43. The oldest president to assume office was Ronald Reagan, who wasn almost 70 years old at his inauguration.

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Ford

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nThen longest-lived president was Gerald Ford, who lived to a ripe old agen of 93 years and 165 days. (Reagan lived to be 93, too!) Strangely,n two of the first three presidents died on the exact same day – andn it was the Fourth of July, the nation’s birthday! That’s right, Johnn Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died on July 4, 1826. (They were 90n and 85 years old when they died.)

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nThen presidents honored on Mount Rushmore are George Washington, Abrahamn Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, and Theodore Roosevelt. Many historiansn rank these four in the top five U.S. presidents, with the additionn of Franklin D. Roosevelt (usually placed in position #3). Of course,n Mount Rushmore was planned and begun in 1927, before F.D.R. wasn elected. (By the way, did you know that Mount Rushmore wasn originally planned to depict each president from head to waist? Lackn of funding changed the plan!)

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F.D.R. doesn’t
appear on
Mount Rushmore,
but has a wonderful
memorial in D.C.

Washington appeared
on this 1917 $20 bill.

Then presidents who appear on U.S. money include:

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nGeorgenWashington (quarter and $1 bill)

nAbrahamnLincoln (penny and $5 bill) n

nThomasnJefferson (nickel and the rare $2 bill)

nFranklinnRoosevelt (dime)

nAndrewnJackson ($20 bill)

nUlyssesnS. Grant ($50 bill)

nJohnnF. Kennedy (half dollar)

nDwightnD. Eisenhower (silver dollar)

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nSomenlarge-denomination bills that are no longer produced include:

nWilliamnMcKinley ($500 bill)

nGrovernCleveland ($1,000 bill)

nJamesnMadison ($5,000 bill)

nWoodrownWilson ($100,000 bill)

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nNow,nALL of the presidents will be on golden dollar coins!

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Fornmore on George Washington, check out this earlier post.n For example, did you know that George Washington was NOT America’snfirst president? That he was elected with 100% of the vote? (Twice!) That he is called the “Precedent President”?

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nAlsonon this date:

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