Hail to the chiefs on Presidents Day

Presidents Day is Feb. 20 this year, and for many people that means a long, three-day weekend. But that’s not true for everyone. Some across the United States can’t agree on when to celebrate it – or even how to spell it. ⬤ In Alabama, it’s “George Washington & Thomas Jefferson’s Birthday.” In Arkansas, you’re celebrating “George Washington and Daisy Gatson Bates Day.” ⬤ If you live in Georgia or Indiana you won’t be observing Presidents’ Day until December. For New Mexico, that date is just after Thanksgiving. So why the disparities? We called local government offices and probed historians to find out: ⬤

Is it Presidents’, President’s or Presidents Day?

The correct spelling of “Presidents Day” is up for debate, but the federal government officially calls it Washington’s Birthday.

If you’re talking about a holiday that celebrates multiple past Presidents, the correct phrase in English would be “Presidents’ Day.” If you’re in favor of a day celebrating just Washington, it would be “President’s Day,” right? But The Associated Press Stylebook calls it “Presidents Day.”

Washington’s Birthday holiday celebrates the birth of George Washington and, in some states Abraham Lincoln. But other presidents are honored alongside them. The George & Barbara Bush Foundation posted a video honoring the late George H.W. Bush for Presidents’ Day, and there are articles highlighting the accomplishments of former President Barack Obama. In 2015, the Obama White House celebrated Presidents’ Day by revamping presidential bios. In 2013, Obama tweeted with the plural possessive spelling.

What’s it called in each state?

Alaska, California, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Washington list the holiday as “Presidents’ Day” on their state government calendars.

Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, West Virginia and Wyoming have it written as “President’s Day.”

Several government sites from Minnesota, Pennsylvania and South Dakota write it as “Presidents Day.”

Five states use a combination, like “Lincoln/Washington/President’s Day” in Arizona and “Lincoln’s and Washington’s Birthdays” in Montana. Maine, South Carolina and Utah use similar names.

Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Virginia and the District of Columbia use Washington’s Birthday.

You won’t find the February long weekend in Delaware, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, Rhode Island or Wisconsin.

These states aren’t the only ones to give the holiday the boot. In a 2012 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair poll, 35% of surveyed Americans said they’d get rid of Presidents’ Day over other holidays such as Martin Luther King Day, Memorial Day and Labor Day.

Jefferson joins the holiday in Alabama

While some states have added Lincoln’s birthday into the official holiday name, other states celebrate it separately. Lincoln’s adopted home state of Illinois, as well as Missouri, New York and Connecticut observe his birthday on the weekday closest to the actual date, Feb. 12.

In Alabama, however, Thomas Jefferson’s birthday also is celebrated in February with Washington’s on “George Washington and Thomas Jefferson’s birthdays.” But Jefferson’s birthday is April 13.

According to Carlie Burkett, a reference archivist at the Alabama Department of Archives & History, Jefferson’s birthday was celebrated in April from 1907 until 1991 when it was combined with Washington’s Birthday in February.

“It appears that that’s just to reduce the number of state holidays,” she says.

Jefferson’s connection to the state is not clear, though he did appoint the second governor of the Mississippi Territory and Alabama’s first federal judge, documents from ADAH say.

According to Matthew Dennis, a University of Oregon professor, Jefferson himself preferred Inauguration Day, the honoring of “the office, not its occupier,” to celebrating Washington’s Birthday. “Jefferson himself, in his own time, sought to deflate the observation of Washington’s Birthday, believing that idolizing particular men, even the iconic Washington, was unworthy of a democracy,” Dennis told USA TODAY.

So why not just have separate holidays to celebrate each? It’s one way to prevent expanding the calendar, Dennis said. “Doubling up saves money while also satisfying a social and political responsibility to mark or remember,” Dennis says.

Why does Daisy Gatson Bates share the day?

Arkansas established Daisy Gatson Bates Day as an official state holiday in 2001. Bates was a prominent civil rights activist in Arkansas and was a personal advocate to the Little Rock Nine who became the first Black students to attend an all-white high school. Bates and her husband also started the Arkansas State Press, a weekly paper that supported civil rights.

The bill, spearheaded by former Rep. Tracy Steele, was originally meant to share the third Monday in January – Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It later was amended to George Washington’s Birthday in February, according to documents provided by the Arkansas State Archives department.

A 2001 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette article pointed to two reasons behind the date: February being Black History Month, and, as Steele said, “During a time of fiscal conservatism, we found a way to honor Daisy Bates that wouldn’t cost the state anything.”