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How Presidents' Day came to be

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

George Washington, the first U.S. president, never did much for his birthday, according to his Mount Vernon estate. Americans celebrated it anyway. In 1879, his birthday became a federal holiday.

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

But in 1968, Congress standardized most federal holidays so that Washington's holiday landed on the third Monday of February. That is before Washington's actual birthday, February 22.

SHAPIRO: That led some states to lump Washington's holiday with President Abraham Lincoln's birthday, February 12. And some stores started offering long weekend sales.

KELLY: Today, those stores sell items to government workers and schoolchildren who have off today for Presidents' Day. But Mount Vernon would remind you, today's federal holiday is still officially called George Washington's Birthday.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Oliver Dearden
Oliver Dearden is a supervising producer for All Things Considered. He line produces the show, working with producers and editors to get the show on air each day. Before ATC, Dearden was a producer with Weekend Edition and Morning Edition, and a senior producer for BBC radio.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.