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President's Day
(February 17, 2003) --- USA vs. Japan (021403)
USA
vs.
Japan
The
USA
has President’s Day while Japan
has the Emperor’s Birthday as their national holiday.
Interestingly, there is no Prime Minister’s day even though the Prime
Minister has almost all of the power in terms of politics since the end of
WWII.
Who
will get this day off?
Most non-critical federal workers, state workers, and school children will have
this day off. Also,
the US
stock market and most banks are closed
since there won’t be any money transactions on this day.
However, many private company workers will still have to work on
this day.
President’s
Day Sale
Like the
Day-after-Thanksgiving shopping,
you may notice by a lot of ads in newspaper that tell “President’s Day
Sale” is going on. This sales
event will start on this Wed. or Thurs. and run through next Mon., President’s
Day. Retailers can get good sales by
having a “President’s Day Sale”, but the sales are not as good as the
Day-after-Thanksgiving shopping.
History
In place of President's Day, the United States
used to have two national holidays. One was for celebrating George Washington's
birthday (February 22) and the other was for Abraham Lincoln's birthday
(February 12). In 1971, President
Richard Nixon decided to combine these two federal holidays into one holiday. He
declared the 3rd Monday in February to be "President's day".
This day
was for honoring all past presidents in the United States. Even though President Richard Nixon issued this proclamation, the Federal
statute of the US still designates this day as Washington’s Birthday.
George Washington, the first
president of the United States
is called the father of our country. He
fought for US independence from England
and led the US
solders against the British forces (the
American Revolution, 1763-1783). After the United States
gained independence, the Electoral College unanimously elected George
Washington as president.
Washington’s picture is now on the quarter, the one dollar bill, and on some stamps.
Washington,
D.C.
*) and
the state of Washington **)
Abraham Lincoln is
probably best remembered for fighting to free the slaves as one union. The civil
war (1861-1865 - the North (the
Union
) vs. the South (Confederacy)) began shortly after he was elected the 16th
president. Lincoln
succeeded in winning the war, keeping the states together, and getting the
slaves of the southern states freed. However, his 2nd term as
president had a tragic end. Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes
Booth, an actor who didn’t agree with Lincoln’s political opinions while
attending a play at the Ford’s
Theater in Washington,
D.C.
Lincoln’s picture is now on the penny, the five-dollar bill, and on a stamp.
Sources:
< http://www.usis.usemb.se/Holidays/celebrate/presiden.html
>
For easy reading < http://score.rims.k12.ca.us/activity/presidentsday/index.html
>
*) < http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/RefArticle.aspx?refid=761576320&pn=1#s1
>
**) < http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0108286.html
>
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