The United States celebrates all of its presidents with a federal holiday on the third Monday in February, the birth month of two of the nation’s greatest presidents: George Washington, the nation’s first president, and Abraham Lincoln, who led the country for the civil War.
The holiday this year coincides with the news that former President Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States, entered palliative care this Saturday at home instead of continuing with medical treatment.
At first it was established to remember Washington, who was born on February 22, 1732.
Occurring in the dead of winter, this holiday is not associated with summer holiday barbecues and picnics and is often used as an opportunity for businesses to offer discounts to those who choose the date to buy from cars to clothes and appliances.
While some American workers have the day off, including federal employees and bankers, the rest of the businesses are open and most go to work as usual.
The country’s schools organize events to delve into the lives of the presidents of the United States, especially George Washington. Each state celebrates with different activities, the most common being speeches and parades.
washington and lincoln
In 1968 Congress officially made the day a federal holiday, when it also formally moved it to the third Monday in February to make it a three-day weekend.
At the time, some argued that the holiday should include a celebration of Lincoln’s birthday on February 12, and that it be officially changed to Presidents’ Day. Lawmakers rejected that idea, and the holiday is still officially called Washington’s Birthday.
However, the day is now commonly known as Presidents’ Day and is seen by most as a celebration of all United States Presidents.
Biden, the 46th president
Joe Biden became the country’s 46th president after taking office on January 20, 2021.
He is the 15th president to previously serve as vice president. Of these, eight assumed the presidency due to the death of a president, while one, Gerald Ford, took office after the resignation of a president, Richard Nixon.
Biden, who served under President Barack Obama, is only the second vice president to take office after waiting one term. The first was Nixon, who served as deputy to President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1961 but did not win the presidency until 1968.
The current US president, with a long career in the Senate spanning 36 years, follows the trend of presidents who previously served in Congress, becoming the 26th president to have been either a representative or a senator.
Seventeen senators have become president, including Biden, but only three senators went directly from the Senate to the White House: Warren G. Harding, Kennedy, and Obama.
Biden is only the second Catholic president, after Kennedy, and every other president has been a Protestant. No president has ever been a Jew or a Muslim, and while none has publicly professed atheism, Thomas Jefferson, Lincoln, and William Howard Taft were thought by some to be agnostics or atheists.
He is also the oldest president to enter the White House at 78, surpassing Donald Trump, who previously held the title, taking office in 2017 at age 70.
The youngest president, Theodore Roosevelt, became president at 42, followed by Kennedy, who came to the White House at 43.
Impending farewell to Carter
Democrat Jimmy Carter became the 39th president of the United States when he defeated former President Gerald R. Ford in 1976. He served a single term and was succeeded by Republican Ronald Reagan in 1980.
This Saturday, the Carter Center, the charity created by the president, reported that after several hospitalizations the former president “decided to spend the remaining time at home with his family by receiving palliative care instead of additional medical intervention.”
In this final stage of the former president, according to the center, in the home environment he has the support of his medical team. The family “asks for privacy and appreciates the concern shown by many fans.”
In 2007, Carter announced that he would prefer to rest forever in his native Plains, Georgia. In recent years, the former president and wife Rosalynn have taken up residence in the small town, where residents refer to the former president simply as “Jimmy” and take pride in his legacy.
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Source: VOA Español
