Why Some States Don’t Observe Presidents’ Day in February

The United States has a history of celebrating important historical figures with federal holidays. Presidents’ Day was established first to honor President George Washington. Although the holiday is now considered a celebration of Washington and Abraham Lincoln, if not all U.S. presidents, some states—including Indiana—give the first and 16th presidents their own distinct celebrations.

The federal holiday that many people today know as Presidents’ Day is officially called “Washington’s Birthday.” Even before the holiday was established, George Washington’s birthday was cause for celebration among many Americans. Its centennial in 1832 prompted nationwide festivities, and Congress kickstarted an honorary tribute that the Senate continues today—reading Washington’s Farewell Address—in 1862.

Discussion began in the late 1870s on formalizing a holiday for the beloved first U.S. president. Observed only in Washington, D.C., beginning in 1880, “Washington’s Birthday” became a national holiday in 1885, according to the National Archives and Records Administration’s Prologue magazine. Its original observance date was February 22 to align with Washington’s actual birth date. (Washington was born when the American colonies were still using the Julian calendar; he was 20 when the British Empire adopted the Gregorian calendar, moving his February 11 birth date forward by 11 days).

In 1971, the federal holiday’s date was moved from February 22 to the third Monday in February, as part of the 1968 Uniform Monday Holiday Act. Representative Robert McClory of Illinois was instrumental in the act’s passage—and determined to expand Washington’s Birthday to encompass President Abraham Lincoln, who was born on February 12. Although McClory’s effort to officially rename the holiday Presidents’ Day failed, his successful suggestion of the new observance date was closer to Lincoln’s birthday.

After that, some states and many people began calling it Presidents’ Day anyway. The misnomer proliferated in the 1980s after retailers began using it in advertising campaigns for mid-February sales, according to Prologue. Even President Bill Clinton issued a Presidents’ Day proclamation in 2000, but the U.S. government has never changed the holiday’s name.

Rather than celebrating a combined Presidents’ Day in February, as many states do, Indiana honors the first and 16th presidents on different days. Indiana marks the birth of Lincoln, who lived in the state for 14 years and officially proclaimed Thanksgiving a holiday, on the Friday after Thanksgiving. The state’s observation of Washington’s Birthday is the day before Christmas.

The separate birthday celebrations have been recognized by state employees since 1947 and have been observed on their current dates since 1979, Ashley Hungate, communications director for the Indiana State Personnel Department, told IndyStar in 2018.

An Indiana law allows the governor to shift state employee holiday observances to different days (with the exception of Martin Luther King Jr. Day). Although there’s no official reason for the dates of the two holidays, honoring Lincoln’s Birthday around Thanksgiving and Washington’s Birthday near Christmas provides an extended holiday break for state employees.

Other states, including Georgia and New Mexico, also celebrate a different Presidents’ Day than the federal government. In Georgia, like Indiana, George Washington’s birthday is celebrated on December 24. New Mexico observes Presidents’ Day on the day after Thanksgiving, similar to Indiana’s celebration of Lincoln’s birthday.