In 1879 Washington’s Birthday became a Federal Holiday (at first, only in the District of Columbia) but in 1885, the holiday was expanded to cover the entire nation. Those of us of a certain age can remember that Washington’s Birthday and Lincoln’s Birthday were observed in school classrooms year after year. The holidays were respectful commemorations of our two greatest presidents. In 1968 Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which moved Washington’s Birthday to the “third Monday in February.” There was talk at the time of renaming the day “Presidents’ Day” thus honoring Lincoln as well, but that never passed Congress. In 1971 America began observing (in the popular mind, at least) “Presidents’ Day” rather than Washington’s Birthday. There is sentiment for honoring all US Presidents on the holiday; but officially, it remains “Washington’s Birthday.”
There is a point to this brief history lesson, because just as Washington’s Birthday evolved into Presidents’ Day – this year, some people gave it another name: “Not My President’s Day,” and yes, you guessed it – those people did not, have not, and probably will not ever accept President Donald Trump as “their” President, so they chose to observe “Not My President’s Day.” We assume that “their President” is Hillary Clinton, who never was President – or Barack Obama, whose term ended on January 21 of this year, so although he served for eight years, he is not President now.