It's Washington's Birthday, By George!

  POSTED ON: Monday, February 17, 2020 12:00 AM by Jennifer Bryan

George Washington was born on 22 February 1732 in Westmoreland County, Virginia. His birthday became a national holiday in 1885 during President Chester Alan Arthur's administration.

In 1968, the Uniform Monday Holiday Bill, which took effect on 1 January 1971, moved the observance of Washington's birthday to the third Monday in February. At the time, the House Committee on the Judiciary discussed renaming the holiday "Presidents' Day" but after , the name remained unchanged. Thus, the federal holiday is still known as Washington's Birthday.

The list of federal holidays can be found in section 6103(a) of title 5 of the United States Code.

For more detail regarding Washington's Birthday and the impact of the Uniform Monday Holiday Bill on American memory, see By George, IT IS Washington's Birthday" in Prologue Magazine, a publication of the National Archives.

Category: History