Who signed President's Day into law?
The bill making George Washington's Birthday, February 22, a holiday for the federal government was signed into law in January 1879 by Pres. Rutherford B. Hayes. The bill that changed to observance of Washington's Birthday to the third Monday of February was signed into law in June 1968 by Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson and took effect in 1971. Although several states observe "Presidents Day" on the third Monday of February, the federal government never called it that. To this day the federal holiday is still called Washington's Birthday, even though it hasn't fallen on Washington's birthday since 1968 (Feb. 22 fell on a Saturday in 1969 and on a Sunday in 1970).Washington's Birthday was made a federal holiday in 1885 under Grover Cleveland and celebrated on February 22. In 1968, when Lyndon Johnson was President, the day of celebration was moved to the third Monday in February, but the name of Washington's birthday for the federal holiday was kept even though it was roughly half-way between February 22 and February 12, which is Lincoln's birthday.