Presidents' Day (United States)
| Washington's Birthday | |
|---|---|
Portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart
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| Official name | Washington's Birthday |
| Also called | Presidents Day or a variant thereof |
| Observed by | United States |
| Type | Federal (and most U.S. states) |
| Observances | Community, historical celebrations; honoring the veterans and purple heart recipients; Congressional recognition. |
| Date | Third Monday in February |
| 2016 date | February 15 |
| 2017 date | February 20 |
| 2018 date | February 19 |
| 2019 date | February 18 |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Related to | Lincoln's Birthday |
Washington's Birthday is a United States federal holiday celebrated on the third Monday of February in honor of George Washington, the first President of the United States, who was born on February 22, 1732. It can occur on the 15th through the 21st of February inclusive.
Colloquially, the day is also now widely known as Presidents' Day and is often an occasion to honor the incumbent president and all persons who have served as president, not just George Washington.
The day is a state holiday in most states, with official names including Washington's Birthday, Presidents' Day, President's Day, and Washington's and Lincoln's Birthday. Depending upon the specific law, the state holiday might officially celebrate Washington alone, Washington and Abraham Lincoln (whose birthday is February 12), or some other combination of U.S. presidents (such as Washington and the third president Thomas Jefferson, who was born in April).
Although Lincoln's birthday, February 12, was never a federal holiday, nearly half of the state governments have officially renamed their Washington's Birthday observances as "Presidents' Day", "Washington and Lincoln Day", or other such designations. (In historical rankings of Presidents of the United States Lincoln and Washington are frequently, but not always, the top two presidents.) However, "Presidents' Day" is not always an all-inclusive term and might refer to only a selection of presidents.
In the following states and possessions, Washington's Birthday is an official state holiday and known as:
Using "president"
Washington alone
Washington and Lincoln
Washington and another person
Unspecified
Several states honor presidents with official state holidays that do not fall on the third Monday of February. In Massachusetts, the state officially celebrates "Washington's Birthday" on the same day as the Federal holiday. State law also directs the governor to issue an annual "Presidents Day" proclamation on May 29 (John F. Kennedy's birthday), honoring the presidents with Massachusetts roots: Kennedy, John Adams, John Quincy Adams, and Calvin Coolidge. In California,Connecticut, Missouri, and Illinois, while Washington's Birthday is a federal holiday, Abraham Lincoln's birthday is still a state holiday, falling on February 12 regardless of the day of the week.
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