Today is “Presidents Day,” according to the blizzard of furniture, appliance, clothing, and auto ads on TV, radio, online and in newspapers. But according to a law passed by Congress in 1971 and signed by President Nixon, it’s not Presidents Day at all. It’s George Washington’s Birthday.
Yes, the official federal holiday legislation is that the third Monday in February shall be set aside to celebrate the birth of the “Father of our Country” and first president, George Washington. Sadly, Washington’s birthday has morphed over the years into “Presidents Day,” and George Washington, who was one of our greatest, if not the greatest president of them all, is largely an afterthought.
And although Congress still recognizes today as Washington’s Birthday, many states have given their official imprimatur to Presidents Day or President’s Day – an amorphous and faceless designation that basically honors no one and nothing.
Lost in the switch are community, media, and academic recognition and celebration of Washington’s contributions to the founding of our country. Before Presidents Day swept George Washington aside, teachers in elementary, middle, and high schools used the February days leading up to his birthday to lead lessons on the many contributions of “The Father of Our Country.”
They extolled the virtue of honesty through the story of the mythical chopping down of the cherry tree. They told tales of the Revolutionary War bravery, sacrifices, and suffering of Gen. Washington’s men during the bitter winter at Valley Forge and how he knelt in the snow to ask for divine help.
Many classroom walls displayed Gilbert Stuart’s famous portrait of Washington, like the one that appears on the One-Dollar bill, or framed prints of the famous painting “Washington Crossing the Delaware” by Emanuel Leutze.
That patriotic stuff is all out of fashion now. And that’s too bad. Goodness knows that in these tumultuous and secular times, Americans – especially young Americans – need celebrations of our historic past and real heroes they can look up to.
George Washington is indeed depicted in history books as a true hero. But unlike our treatment of leaders today, he didn’t have to die to receive the accolades and thanks of the people he led. He was admired and praised as a hero in life, as well as after his passing.
When he left Mount Vernon, Virginia, home in late April 1789 to travel to New York City to be inaugurated as our first president, each town, village, and hamlet his horse-drawn caravan passed along the 227-mile route was lined with wildly cheering enthusiastic Americans who waved banners and strew flowers in his path.
Imagine doing that for any president these days. Times have changed. We have little time for real heroes. The contrast recalls the song “Mrs. Robinson, “ in which Simon and Garfunkel plaintively ask, “Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?”
Sadly, like “Joltin’ Joe,” many of our real heroes, such as George Washington, seem to have left and gone away.
Alexandria, VA, just a stone’s throw away from Washington’s Mount Vernon home, will still celebrate its native son today with a gala parade and wreath laying at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier of the Revolution. Public tours of Mount Vernon will be free of charge today and again on Thursday, Washington’s real birthday.
When I was growing up in the late 1940s and early 1950s, we had plenty of heroes to admire, not the least of whom were relatives who served in World War II. That included my father, a U.S. Marine hero in the battle for Iwo Jima.
The notion of heroes always intrigued me. It often provided keen insight into the character of people who chose and admired them. So, while reporting on the 1988 presidential race for USA Today, I asked each of the candidates who their childhood heroes were. I saw it as a chance to learn more about them as real people.
President Biden – then Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware – was one of the Democratic presidential candidates at that time. I asked him who his boyhood heroes were. Without blinking an eye, he responded, “Finnegan!”
“Who is Finnegan?” I asked.
“My mother’s brother,” Biden replied. “He was killed in World War II and his picture was in our living room. I never met him, but he was my hero.” Imagine that – a family hero he never knew. His response spoke volumes.
Who are the heroes young people look up to today? Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce? Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck? Nicki Minaj, Brittney Spears, Justin Bieber? How sad.
Where have you gone, George Washington? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you. Wherever you went, you are still one of my heroes. Happy Birthday!
Richard Benedetto is a retired USA Today White House correspondent. He teaches politics and journalism at American University and in the Fund for American Studies program at George Mason University. Contact him at [email protected] and follow on Twitter @benedettopress.
