Friday, February 18, 2011

President's Day


On Monday, we'll celebrate President's Day.
The federal holiday was first established to commemorate the birthday of our first president, George Washington, who was born on February 22, 1732. As the father of our country, this day was celebrated in the late 19th century with a great deal of patriotic fervor.
In 1968, the Uniform Holidays Bill was passed to create more three-day weekend for federal employees by moving dates of certain holidays from fixed dates to floating Mondays. President Nixon issued a proclamation in 1971 which declared the third Monday in February to be the official observation.
Some have suggested that the federal government enjoys too many holidays. (Articles here and here)
Does it have any personal meaning to you, other than getting a day off with pay?  Comment here.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

I thought this holiday was Washington's and Lincoln's birthdays combined when Martin Luther King Day gave us too many holidays at the same time of year.

Yes, it does mean something to me, but I'm in the baby boomer generation that even remembers May Day. I don't know how the schools celebrate it or what they teach the children these days.

Anonymous said...

In reference to the previous comment: I think school children should have to write about the meaning of a holiday before they may take the day off.

Anonymous said...

I have posted before about my ideas about holidays....and got blasted. Some seem to believe that we get the holiday and whatever we do with it is our business. I believe that if we are going to take the holiday...that we should be required to attend some formal recognition of that day. We have Monday off.....how many of us are actully going to do anything to celebrate this day? My guess would be around 2% of us will do something actually related to presidents day. Since we are in such a financial bite...I think we should suspend about half of the holidays.

Anonymous said...

I think it is nice we honor our founding father. Is the holiday necessary probably not but then we could go back and forth about other days that should really be federally recognized but aren't. As for suspending them. We really don't gain much either way someone is getting paid. Yes it makes for higher volumne the day after but if they go to a 5 day work week, it will become the norm.

Anonymous said...

I'm a PTF. I don't get paid for a holiday.

Anonymous said...

It is important to remember our heritage so I always take the time to be with family and remember why the holidays are celebrated. Where I work though a holiday also means catch-up the rest of the week. Still, the holidays we have all make perfect sense - and offer a time to remember - publicly or privately. It is a shame that for some it means no work - no pay.

Anonymous said...

President's Day? Not much of a personal meaning for me, however; too many holidays....ABSOLUTELY NOT! As postal workers, we make a lot of sacrifices throughout our careers such as working nights, weekends and holidays including Thanksgiving and Christmas. I am referring to the unknown, under-publicized and under-appreciated employees that work in the processing plants. We aren't with our families at night, we miss social opportunities due to our schedules. Our lives are turned upside down and inside out. We need these holidays to regroup and mainstream with friends and family. The holiday is something to look forward to and hopefully we aren't mandated to work them.

Anonymous said...

What holiday? We're canceling mail that night so guess who has to work anyway?

Anonymous said...

Presiden't Day happens to fall on my birthday this year, plus the kids get out of school so I get to actually have the day off, chill out at home with my kids and enjoy myself. I don't get to do this often because I work every weekend at a processing plant and I don't get to enjoy time with the kids on their days off from school. I don't really think there are "that many Holidays" here at the plant I see many people working them. If it wasn't for the more senior people signing up to work, I would be here too.

Anonymous said...

As for myself I will more than likely watch the History channel on Presidents day. They have some great docuementaries about our founding fathers and as a rule they run numerous of them on Presidents Day.
When I think of the founding fathers - early Presidents all the way up to Lincoln. I often wonder what they would think of the Nation that they were instrumental in creating.
As for myself...I do not think that they would be happy with the way that things are.

Anonymous said...

Looking forward to a day off - looked at car deals today :)
Doesn't mean anything anymore.
Everythings open except the federal, state, local municipalities, banks and schools (vacation anyway).
We should be working and taking it as a floating day off.
Next up St Pats Day, unofficially of course ;)

Anonymous said...

I don't think we have too many holidays. I know the impression is that postal workers have alot of holidays but so do alot of other businesses (Boeing for example). People that complain about having to work nights, split shifts, weekend? My advice is if you don't like it go find a job somewhere else. We are told we need to reduce the work force and maybe you could help us out by leaving so the ones that truly appreciate their jobs won't be forced to leave. No one is making you stay here you know.

grannybunny said...

I, too, am old enough to remember when we had 2 holidays in February: Lincoln's Birthday (on the 6th) and Washington's (on the 22nd), both now combined into a single Presidents Day. We do not have too many holidays, as people need guaranteed time off, to rest, recuperate and recharge.

Anonymous said...

I wish we only had Easter, Christmas and my birthday. Monday holidays make for hectic and inefficient Tuesdays. 3 days off a year would be plenty for me.

Anonymous said...

February 16th was Lincoln's birthday. The holiday we celebrate is Washington's birthday. Although his birthday was February 22nd, the proclamation deemed that it be celebrated on the third Monday of February. Therefore, it is never ON Washington's birthday. It has never been officially called "President's Day" or "Presidents Day". It is Washington's birthday, and the Lincoln's birthday holiday was eliminated.

Along These Lines ... said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Some really good points brought up here. I can say when I started out I did work nights and most weekends. Did I grumble probably a little bit but most generally I was happy to have a well paying job. I started as a TE so talk about no benefits what so ever. I finally made regular and now have great hours. And heck yea I deserve holidays off.

Anonymous said...

I wonder if the person who had no compassion for their co-workers that work nights and weekends has ever worked nights at the Post Office or weekends? Probably not! Just because they made comments doesn't mean they don't appreciate their jobs-they were just stating facts about their lives that showed they needed all these holidays.

Anonymous said...

To correct some previous posts---George Washington (our 1st president) was born on Feb. 22nd, 1732. Abraham Lincoln (our 16th president was born on Feb. 12th, 1809. I believe that eventually Ronald Reagan (our 40th president) born on Feb. 6th, 1911, will be added to the third Monday in February which has been proclaimed as Presidents' Day.