Happy Presidents' Day
Posted in Congress by Peter Lawler
...which is way too VAGUE a holiday to be celebrated here at Berry College. Here's the question of the day on NPR: "If Lincoln had an iPod, what music would he have put on it?" (Hint: He really liked opera.)
UPDATE: Legal scholar Free Frank reminds us in the thread that Presidents' Day was the brainchild of President Nixon. Congress never okayed the change, which means that, technically, we are only celebrating Washington's Birthday. So we should ask: "If Washington had an iPod..." today.
9:24 AM / February 16, 2009
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Technically, the holiday remains George Washington's Birthday.
Congress made Washington’s Birthday a national holiday in 1885. It moved the holiday to the third Monday of February in 1971. Believe it or not, you're celebrating Washington’s Birthday today, as usual.
That’s because Congress never changed the name to Presidents Day. Never.
It is true that, when Washington’s Birthday was moved to a Monday in 1971, President Nixon declared it Presidents Day. But Congress did not change the name, and even Nixon could not amend the law on his own.
Bellini and Verdi were the common fare, although he probably would have Don Giovanni on CD.
And as all good Catholics know, Feb. 14 is no longer St. Valentine's Day. On Saturday, you were celebrating Ss. Cyril and Methodius Day.
George Washington would be listening to Yankee Doodle. The saints would have something Slavic on their iPods.
Lincoln's ye olde iPod favorites were definitely "Old Folks at Home" and "Camptown Races" by the "Elvis of the 1850s" -- Stephen Foster. Who needs the old stylings of opera when you have dancy numbers like those!