Natty Shafer Law

Utah lawyer for criminal and immigration cases

The Official Name of Presidents’ Day

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Or is it President’s Day or maybe Presidents Day? As Hendrik Hertzberg explained a few years ago, it’s none of the above:

Ever since 1968, when, in one of the last gasps of Great Society reformism, holidays were rejiggered to create more three-day weekends, federal law has decreed the third Monday in February to be Washington’s Birthday….Just to add to the Presidential confusion, Washington’s Birthday is not Washington’s birthday. George Washington was born either on February 11, 1731 (according to the old-style Julian calendar, still in use at the time), or on February 22, 1732 (according to the Gregorian calendar, adopted in 1752 throughout the British Empire). Under no circumstances, therefore, can Washington’s birthday fall on Washington’s Birthday, a.k.a. Presidents Day, which, being the third Monday of the month, can occur only between the 15th and the 21st. Lincoln’s birthday, February 12th, doesn’t make it through the Presidents Day window, either.

So I hope you enjoyed Washington’s Birthday (Observed).

Author: Natty Shafer

Attorney practicing immigration and criminal law

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