Inject honor and respect into today’s legal holiday
Many may well be tempt- ed to pity today’s state and national holiday as the Rodney Dangerfield of official American observances. After all, Presidents Day – or by any other of its many names – too often gets little to no respect.
For many, it’s often relegated to third-class treatment this month behind the more popular – but hardly legal – holidays of Groundhog Day and Valentine’s Day. After all, an unseemly rodent that climbs out of a hole in Punxsutawney, Pa., manages to captivate and unite a nation of winter-weary jubilant revelers. Then, 12 days later, millions of Americans go gaga over succulent chocolates, long-stemmed roses, mushy greeting cards and other public displays of love and affection to celebrate St. Valentine’s Day, the national day of romance.
But Presidents Day? Other than a three-day weekend away from work and school and a chance to partake in any of a wide array of presidential-themed blowout sales at car dealerships, furniture outlets and department stores, the holiday fails to muster up much reverence, let alone excitement.
Part of its low profile may well be attributable to the identity crisis it long has suffered. In the United States, today’s observance remains officially named George Washington’s Birthday, which has been observed as a legal holiday since 1885 and a Monday holiday since 1971.
In Ohio, legal documents still refer to this holiday as Washington-Lincoln Day so as not to slight Honest Abe, whose birthday also falls this month. In Alabama, Lincoln is out and another founding father is in during its observance of George Washington/Thomas Jefferson Day.
Adding to the confusion is the fact that states cannot seem to agree on when it is most appropriate to celebrate the presidency. Though most observances fall on the third Monday of February, New Mexico marks Presidents Day on Black Friday and Georgia officially observes it on Christmas Eve.
In both cases, the holiday clearly plays second fiddle to the more popular festivities of the joyous Christmas season.
HOLIDAY’S REASON FOR BEING
But not only is its identity fractured and its place time-warped, the very raison d’etre for Presidents Day remains a source of contentious debate.
Purists argue that the holiday should stay true to its roots by focusing squarely on George Washington, the Father of Our Country, for singular honor and recognition. They argue that his importance to our nation’s political structure and culture has been systematically degraded by stirring him up in a pot with 44 others.
Others retort that the spotlight of this Monday holiday should shine brightest on the two highest-rated of America’s chief executives and commanders in chief. Their line of reasoning holds that George Washington made the U.S. possible, and Abraham Lincoln prevented it from permanent rupture.
Still others argue that Presidents Day should be a day to herald all American presidents equally. But truth to tell, would it be fitting to equate Niles’ native son and 25th president who led the U.S. to victory in the Spanish-American War, with James Buchanan, the 15th president who is best remembered by many historians for his total lack of leadership skills and moral authority? We think not.
For all of the confusion and disrespect this holiday has endured, its common denominator remains rooted in the office of the U.S. presidency. That is an office that long has captured and continues to capture the intense fascination and interest of our citizenry. Nary a day went by last year when many of us were not caught up in the robust and often raucous presidential campaigns.
And now in the first month of the Donald J. Trump Administration, the nation’s eyes similarly have been glued to the Oval Office, partly in recognition of the immense power it possesses over the state of the nation and the security of the free world.
The endurance of the office of the president as a crucial leg of our tripartite democracy and the successful transfer of power within it over the past 21/2 centuries are testaments to the honor and respect that it deserves.
So whether you call today Presidents Day, Washington’s Birthday or Washington-Lincoln Day, let this holiday serve as an opportune time to reflect upon the importance of this nation’s executive branch of government as a vital cog in the success and growth of our republic.