In Which Josh Proposes Revising the Federal Holiday Calendar

When I was a little boy in the Southern California school system in the 70s and 80s, there were separate holidays for Washington’s and Lincoln’s birthdays. Or at least that was my memory. Both were celebrated. Then Martin Luther King Day became a federal holiday in 1986. I thought at the time and for many years after that President’s Day was created from a consolidation of Washington’s and Lincoln’s birthdays in order to make room for Martin Luther King Day, based on the reasoning that there was a limit to the number of federal holidays. A few years ago I looked into this and it turned out that this was not true. I don’t remember the exact details. Lincoln’s birthday was never a federal holiday, but it was celebrated in California. A change also occurred around the same time to rename Washington’s birthday President’s Day. (Officially, it’s still Washington’s birthday.)

Anyway, what interests me is that Abraham Lincoln actually has a national holiday. Part of this is that he truly is a great president, regardless of the revolution wrought by the Civil War and the Reconstruction Amendments. Sometimes great iconic figures aren’t all they say they are. But the twin presidencies of Washington and Lincoln are more powerful and more important than they seem, even if Washington’s role is not limited to his presidency. It must be seen in the context of his de facto military and political leadership during the Revolutionary War and his role in the period between the Revolution and his presidency, including his role at the constitutional convention. Regardless, the fact is that Washington and Lincoln are both critical figures in our national history. The problem with the holidays is that we are faced with a multitude of birthdays, with King’s in January and Washington and Lincoln’s in February. I guess there’s a reason we can’t have so many national holidays back to back. GOOD. I don’t make the rules.