Presidents Day

20 02, 2023

A Strange Holiday

By |2023-02-19T10:45:56-06:00February 20th, 2023|Holidays, Make Me Think Monday|1 Comment

Today is President’s Day… or is it Presidents’ Day… Presidents Day… Or Washington’s Birthday as the Office of Personnel Management notes on its federal calendar.

All those names are used.

With no official name, it’s hard to know how or what to call the holiday and it’s a grammar nightmare. The apostrophe is everywhere.

Sometimes there’s none, i.e. Presidents Day. Sometimes the apostrophe is placed between the last two letters as in President’s Day. Sometimes it’s after the last letter Presidents’ Day.

Then President is used as plural or singular.

To most people, the day is when banks and federal employees have a holiday and retail stores run sales.

Back in my day, we celebrated two presidential birthdays in February on their actual birthdays –George Washington on February 22 and Abraham Lincoln on February 16.

The 1971 Uniform Monday Holiday Act changed all that with the creation of three-day weekends and designated the third Monday of February to honor all presidents, past and present. That blurred the day’s meaning from the original purpose.

You’ll also notice Presidents’ Day never falls on either Washington or Lincoln’s birthdates or any of the other four presidents’ February birthdates—George Washington, William Henry Harrison, Abraham Lincoln, and Ronald Reagan.

Strange holiday, I say.

Whatever you call the holiday and however you choose to write it, enjoy the day.

Maybe do a little reading. Check out my author page for some excellent book choices.

21 02, 2018

Words from Mount Rushmore – Theodore Roosevelt

By |2018-02-21T11:15:29-06:00February 21st, 2018|Holidays, Wednesday Words, Wednesday Words of Wisdom|0 Comments

In honor of Presidents Day, February 19, Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom will be from the Mount Rushmore presidents this month. Today’s words come from President Theodore Roosevelt. He’s between Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln.Mount Rushmore is known as the “Shrine of Democracy,” an iconic symbol of the United States carved into the southeastern face of Mount Rushmore in South Dakota’s Black Hills National Forest.

Sculptor Gutzon Borglum created the design depicting the faces of U.S. Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt and oversaw the project’s execution from 1927 to 1941 with the help of his son, Lincoln Borglum.

Borglum along with four hundred workers used dynamite and pneumatic hammers to blast through the rock quickly along with the traditional tools of drills and chisels as the heads of the four presidential heads took shape in the face of Mount Rushmore.

Arduous and dangerous work, it is amazing that no lives were lost during the construction. If you ever see it in person, you will stand in awe as I did.

19 02, 2018

Why I think President’s Day is a Strange Holiday

By |2018-02-01T17:36:41-06:00February 19th, 2018|Holidays, Make Me Think Monday|3 Comments

Three things strike me as making Presidents Day holiday strange.

1.    There’s no universal agreement on the actual name of the holiday

Most American holidays are clear-cut in what we are celebrating or honoring, i.e. 4th of July, Thanksgiving, or Martin Luther King Day.

Not so with Presidents Day. Ask several people what President’s Day recognizes or why we celebrate, and you’re likely to get totally different answers.

Fact is, President’s Day originated to recognize George Washington’s actual day of birth, February 22. It was the first federal holiday to celebrate the life of an individual and joined only four other national bank holidays – Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, Independence Day, and Thanksgiving.

Then under the Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1971, which was passed to create more three-day weekends and increase retail and tourism revenue, it became known as Presidents’ Day and included President Abraham Lincoln whose birthday is February 12.

2.    There’s no clear clarification of which presidents are being honored

Popular culture gradually shifted the emphasis from recognizing Washington and Lincoln to a day to recognize the lives of American presidents generally.

Interesting to note that the Federal government still labels the third Monday in February on official calendars as Washington’s Birthday.

3.    There’s no agreement about whether to use an apostrophe or not

Sometimes the apostrophe isn’t used at all (as in Presidents Day), sometimes it is placed between the last two letters (President’s Day), and sometimes it is after the last letter (Presidents’ Day).

No specific title for the holiday is a little confusing, especially if you happen to be an English teacher.

Seems reasonable to say those three things make Presidents’ Day or President’s Day or Presidents Day a slightly strange holiday.

Wouldn’t you agree?

20 02, 2017

Three Presidential Love Story Quotes

By |2019-02-03T20:50:06-06:00February 20th, 2017|Holidays, Make Me Think Monday|1 Comment

It’s President’s Day. I thought it might be fun to look at love stories/quotes of presidents. In my day, we had holidays for Lincoln’s birthday (February 12) and George Washington’s birthday (February 22) instead of the singular day to honor all presidents. For that reason, I begin with Lincoln and Washington.

Teddy Roosevelt’s story touched my romance writer’s heart so I had to share it too.

~~Abraham Lincoln to Mary Todd Lincoln

Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS an illustration done shortly after they moved into the White House.

Mary Todd, the daughter of a successful merchant and politician, attracted the attention of up-and-coming politician and lawyer Abraham Lincoln. Her family did not approve of the match, but Mary and Abraham shared a love of politics and literature and a deep love for each other. When Lincoln won his Congressional seat in 1846, Mary joined him in Washington. Something unheard of at the time.

“My wife was as handsome as when she was a girl,” Lincoln once told a reporter. “And I, poor nobody then, fell in love with her, and what is more, have never fallen out.”

~~George Washington and Martha Dandridge Custis Washington

The romance of George and Martha was hardly a wild passionate romance by today’s standards. By the time their engagement was determined, they liked each other a great deal. Eight months after their marriage, George Washington wrote to his agent in England.“I am now I beleive fixd at this Seat with an agreable Consort for Life and hope to find more happiness in retirement than I ever experienced amidst a wide and busthng World.”

 Eighteenth century marriages were formed for ease of living. George and Martha chose wisely, perhaps more than they realized at the time. According to historians, they shared forty years together during which they grew to love each other with true devotion.

~~ Theodore Roosevelt and Alice Hathaway Lee RooseveltAlice was Teddy Roosevelt’s first wife. He wrote of her: “Sweetest little wife, I think all the time of my little laughing, teazing beauty, and how pretty she is, and how she goes to sleep in my arms, and I could almost cry I love you so.”

Unfortunately, their love was short lived. On Valentine’s Day in 1884, Roosevelt suffered a double loss. His mother died of typhus and his beloved Alice in childbirth. His  diary entry for the day is shown above. Later, he penned this private tribute for his sweetest little wife.

She was beautiful in face and form, and lovelier still in spirit; As a flower she grew, and as a fair young flower she died. Her life had been always in the sunshine; there had never come to her a single sorrow; and none ever knew her who did not love and revere her for the bright, sunny temper and her saintly unselfishness. Fair, pure, and joyous as a maiden; loving, tender, and happy. As a young wife; when she had just become a mother, when her life seemed to be just begun, and when the years seemed so bright before her—then, by a strange and terrible fate, death came to her. And when my heart’s dearest died, the light went from my life forever.

How does your love story compare to these presidential love story and quotes?

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