Blogcritics The critical lens on today's culture & entertainment
Presidents Day is little more than a three-day weekend and an excuse for retail promotions to most of us; something vaguely attached to the February birthdays of our most renowned presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.
But don’t all 43 chief execs, the men who have led our nation through thick and thin, deserve some time and attention on their collective day? For example, how many of us know that William Henry Harrison was also born in February and that he was our shortest-lived president? He died of pneumonia just 31 days into his presidency in 1841, likely the victim of refusing to dress properly for his own inaugural address.
Some of our more historically inclined writers look into it:
A Look at the Top 10 Presidential Blunders on Presidents Day
When it comes to presidential timber, it is painfully obvious that our chief executives do not all come from the same trees.
Posted to Politics by Victor Lana on February 20, 2006 01:02 PM
Book Review: Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Plunges Into The Presidency
I don’t celebrate Presidents Day with a Presidential Tree and the handing out of gifts, but I do have to admit I’m a fiend for presidential trivia and history. Toss out the more partisan political aspects of it, though –…
Posted to Books by Nik Dirga on February 20, 2006 08:24 AM
On Presidents Day – Remembering Young Hickory
President’s Day originated as a compromise between those who wanted to celebrate Lincoln’s Birthday and Washington’s Birthday in the same month, a practice which took too many days out of what’s already the shortest day of the year….
Posted to Politics by Dave Nalle on February 20, 2006 03:16 AM
Thanks, Gerald Ford!
This weekend a group of scholars released a list of the ten greatest blunders by American Presidents. The list put Richard Nixon and the cover-up of Watergate at number five, with President James Buchanan taking the lead for failing to…
Posted to Politics by allendrury on February 19, 2006 10:47 AM
Who Is Being Honored on Presidents Day?
In recent years I have had difficulty understanding and appreciating the mid-winter holiday now known as “Presidents’ Day.” Are we celebrating specific presidents’ lives any more, or is it just about the huge sales and promotions advertised by department stores,…
Posted to Culture by Victor Lana on February 18, 2006 12:21 PM
