One of the earliest federal holidays enacted by Congress, Presidents’ Day honors the birthday and legacy of the first U.S. President, George Washington.
Observed on the third Monday of February each year, the special day is celebrated through patriotic parades, historical reenactments, and readings of major presidential speeches, including Washington’s Farewell Address.
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“It’s a really good opportunity to reflect on the origins of the [presidential] office and what was intended by Washington and the other framers at the Constitutional Convention,” Lindsay Chervinsky, executive director of the George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon, tells TIME.
Here are 10 facts that make Presidents’ Day a distinct, and often misunderstood, national holiday.
Presidents’ Day goes by another name
Despite its popular moniker, the federal holiday known as Presidents’ Day is officially called “Washington’s Birthday” under Section 6103(a) in Title 5 of the U.S. Code.
“Americans, prior to the revolution, celebrated the King’s birthday quite regularly, and they started to transition to celebrating Washington’s birthday about halfway through the war,” says Chervinsky. “By 1778, states and localities were celebrating Washington’s birthday, largely because it was common practice to have a sort of a birthday celebration, and he was a good stand-in.”
The holiday was established by an Act of Congress introduced by Republican Sen. Stephen Wallace Dorsey of Arkansas and signed into law by President Rutherford B. Hayes on Jan. 31, 1879. Initially observed by federal offices in Washington, it was expanded in 1885 to include all federal offices.
George Washington had two birthdays
Washington was born in Virginia on Feb. 11, 1731, according to the Julian calendar, which was introduced by Julius Caesar and used throughout the British Empire at the time.
In 1752, Britain and its colonies adopted the Gregorian calendar, introduced by Pope Gregory XIII to correct inaccuracies in the Julian system. The shift moved Washington’s birthday forward by 11 days and into a new year.
As a result, Washington’s birthday came to be recognized as Feb. 22, 1732.
Presidents’ Day never falls on Washington’s birthday anymore
Although the holiday retains its name, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act in 1968, shifting several federal holidays to Mondays when it came into effect in 1971.
The goal was to create more three-day weekends and reduce disruptions to the workweek.
Under the law, Washington’s birthday is now observed on the third Monday of February, meaning it does not coincide with Feb. 22.
It was the first federal holiday honoring an individual’s birth date
Although the U.S. now observes other federal holidays spotlighting prominent individuals, such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Washington’s Birthday was the first federal holiday dedicated to a single person’s birth date.
Peter Kastor, a history professor at Washington University in St. Louis, tells TIME that “during the revolution, but especially after his death, Americans concluded that Washington would be their symbol of what the American Revolution and the American experiment was supposed to be.”
After Washington’s death in 1799, his birthday continued to be celebrated informally nationwide for decades before receiving federal recognition nearly a century later.
Washington may not have enjoyed celebrating his own birthday
Historical records suggest that Washington paid little attention to his own birthday.
Domestic accounts from Mount Vernon, his plantation estate, show no evidence of large celebrations or regular family observances.
“He really wasn’t much one for celebrations,” says Chervinsky. “For his birthday, he usually wrote down that it was his birthday and acknowledged it. And maybe there was something small among the family, but he was not going to be having lavish birthday parties.”
One diary entry from Washington’s birthday reflects his understated approach.
“About 10 o’clock last night it began to snow and continued to do so all night and till afternoon this day—but as it drifted much the depth cd. [could] not be ascertained. I remained at home all day,” the excerpt reads.
Abraham Lincoln became linked to the holiday
During debates over the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, some lawmakers proposed renaming the holiday Presidents’ Day to honor both Washington and Abraham Lincoln, the 16th U.S. President whose own birthday falls on Feb. 12.
Lincoln’s birthday was already a celebrated day in many states, as people chose to honor his role in preserving the Union during the Civil War and moving to abolish slavery through the Emancipation Proclamation.
“Lincoln became the symbol of the Union and the symbol of personal sacrifice, when he died in office,” says Kastor.
Although Congress rejected the proposed name change in 1968, the association stuck, and many Americans now view the holiday as honoring multiple Presidents.
Retail branding helped popularize the holiday
After the new Monday observance took effect in 1971, some retailers began using the long weekend for promotions.
By the 1980s, “Presidents’ Day Sales” had become a common marketing strategy in the U.S., with targeted advertisements often featuring patriotic imagery such as American flags or depictions of Mount Rushmore.
“Think about how many mattress stores do sales on Presidents’ Day,” says Kastor, noting that the holiday marks the first tentpole event of the year.
Cherry pie is loosely associated with the holiday
Cherry pie has become symbolically linked to Presidents’ Day. The association appears to stem from the famous, but fictional, story of Washington chopping down a cherry tree as a child.
“There is this long-standing story that Americans celebrated Presidents’ Day by eating cherry pie,” says Kastor. “It isn’t in the way that people eat pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving. But rather, there’s some people who’ve done it, and these stories that have propagated over time.”
The first seven Presidents weren’t (technically) born in the United States
The Constitution requires presidential candidates to be natural-born citizens. But for the nation’s first six decades, every President had technically been born before the United States even existed.
The first seven Presidents—Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, and Andrew Jackson—were all born before 1776, when the colonies were still part of the British Empire. Their birthplaces later became U.S. soil.
The first President born after the signing of the Declaration of Independence was Martin Van Buren. Born in Kinderhook, N.Y., in 1782, he became the first native-born American President and the first from New York.
The Senate still reads Washington’s Farewell Address each year
In 1796, as his second term in office drew to a close, Washington opted not to seek a third term, announcing his decision in a public letter that became known as his “Farewell Address.” This also established the precedent of a two-term presidency, later formalized in the Constitution.
Each year, the Senate selects one of its members, alternating parties, to read Washington’s 7,641-word address aloud in a legislative session. The practice began on Feb. 22, 1862, as “a morale-boosting gesture during the darkest days of the Civil War.”
At the conclusion of the annual reading, the appointed senator signs a black leather-bound book maintained by the secretary of the Senate, adding brief remarks to memorialize the occasion.
Chervinsky calls the observance “an opportunity to reflect on the best leadership practices and what we can also learn from the darker moments” of U.S. history.
Republican Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi recited the farewell address on Feb. 18, 2025. He said he was “grateful” for the opportunity to read Washington’s words aloud.
The post 10 Surprising Facts About Presidents’ Day appeared first on TIME.
