Washington and Lincoln: The Reaffirming of a President's Day Narrative
Happy Washington’s Birthday! (Or as many of us remember it “President’s Day!) In point of fact, Washington’s birthday is Feb. 22, 1732. Plus because of an interesting historical shift when the British Empire adopted the Gregorian Calander over the Julian, Washington’s own birthday—date and year— changed during his lifetime. (Here’s an interesting video put out by the Washington Museum in Mount Vernon VA about that: https://www.mountvernon.org/.../the-truth-about.../).
Meanwhile, Facebook failed to remind me that Feb. 12 was Lincoln’s Birthday which is celebrated in my home state of New York as a state holiday. So throughout my childhood in Long Island, my school calendar included both Lincon’s and Washing’s birthdays. In February all the classrooms were decorated with red hearts and at the front hung above the blackboard the portraits of Washington and Lincoln facing one another and looking down on us. Garrison Kieller remembers thinking that Washington’s prim face meant he’d never give a guy any hint on tests while Lincoln looked more benevolent and might pass on the answer: “It’s eight, Lincoln seemed to say.”
I confess that for years I mistakenly thought that the two birthday celebrations were combined to make room for Martin Luther King’s Holiday in Jan (as if the Federal Calander could only fit in so many holidays), but only Washington’s birthday is a Federal holiday. In fact, that is its official handle, Washington’s Birthday but for most of us it is just “President’s Day.”
I do not like this shift. I think it robs us of an important shared narrative. I miss the joint the celebrations in February of both the founder and the savior of our nation. These two men were extraordinary. They weren’t gods, but humans and yet each struggled through and passed onto our country great things.
When King George III was told that after taking the highest position in America, Washington would voluntarily step down and return to his farm, the former antagonistic monarch said “If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world.” Before him no conqueror had ever voluntarily given up power. Meanwhile Lincoln delt with the grimmest days of the Republic. Having inherited the blatant injustice of slavery which led to secession as soon as he was elected, he fiercely followed the principle laid out by Pres. Andrew Jackson (another human president) that the union was indissolvable. Preserving that union led to the great nation we are blessed to be a part of today.
These points need to be remembered and celebrated. Over and over again, in the Old Testament, monuments and special days were set to help the people remember. Humans tend to forget and a ubiquitous vague day does nothing to help jog our minds. We don't need a day to sell more cars and sheets, we need days to celebrate the great things two of our greatest past leaders did for us.
