Page 4 - ARUBA TODAY

A4 U.S. NEWS
Tuesday 21 February 2017
Americans on Presidents Day: Admiration, fear mark holiday

MICHELLE R. SMITH of Washington’s birthday, deals on cars, furniture and the Cincinnati, the na- how out of touch we are
Associated Press and people would forget other goods during Presi- tion’s oldest patriotic orga- with our revolutionary ori-
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — his legacy,” Phifer said. dents Day sales. nization, founded in 1783. gins.
The United States on Mon- “The revolution George
day marked Presidents Washington led created
Day, a holiday that’s tak- the first great republic
ing on a new meaning for since antiquity.
some Americans this year It articulated ideals of uni-
as Republican President versal liberty, natural rights
Donald Trump — to the dis- and equality that have
may of some and the de- shaped the entire history
light of others — upends of our country and have
traditional notions of the reached beyond it,” he
office. said.
The holiday began as a cel- “We don’t need a holiday
ebration of George Wash- to commemorate the pres-
ington’s birthday, Feb. 22, idency.
and its official name re- We do need one to com-
mains Washington’s Birth- memorate our greatest na-
day. tional leader.”
Throughout the 19th centu- George Cleveland, 64, of
ry, communities celebrated Tamworth, New Hamp-
with parades and fireworks, shire, was born into politics;
said Evan Phifer, a research In this Friday, Feb. 17, 2017 photo, George Cleveland poses in his office in North Conway, N.H., his grandfather was Presi-
historian at the White House in front of a photo depicting the inauguration of his grandfather, President Grover Cleveland. He dent Grover Cleveland,
Historical Association. In the said Presidents Day seems more of a holiday these days than a chance for people to look back who was elected in 1884
late 1800s, Feb. 22 became at American history. and 1892.
a federal holiday. (AP Photo/Holly Ramer) He will be spending Presi-
The holiday was moved to dents Day taking a friend
the third Monday in Feb- To some extent, that has The Associated Press spoke George Washington was to the hospital to have
ruary in 1971, creating a happened. Abraham Lin- with people around the the first president general shoulder surgery.
three-day weekend for coln’s birthday is Feb. 12, country about their ideas of the group. “What does Presidents Day
many workers. and many people now about Presidents Day, the He calls the idea of Presi- mean to me? Well, it’s a
“There was fear when the associate both presidents presidency and how it is dents Day “wrongheaded” nice idea to think that we’d
holiday was moved to with the holiday. It has also changing. and said referring to Wash- all kind of take a day and
the third Monday that it become a retail holiday, Jack Warren is executive ington’s Birthday as Presi- review American history
would lose the distinction where shoppers can get director of the Society of dents Day is a reflection of and the high points and
the low points and what
some of the presidents did
and perhaps didn’t do,”
he said. “I’m afraid we
don’t do that. Presidents
Day right now seems to be
really more of a holiday.”
Robin Allweiss, a 56-year-
old attorney from Tampa,
Florida, considers herself
a patriot and takes Presi-
dents Day seriously — es-
pecially so this year. She
is a Trump supporter and
thinks he’s vastly different
than any other president in
the country’s history.
“He relates to us. He
gives us a feeling that he
could be our father, our
brother, he could be our
cousin or our best friend,
and that’s what makes him
so different. He doesn’t
care what anybody thinks.
What he wants to do
is make America great
again,” she said.
“Donald Trump cares
about us. And no other
president in the history of
the United States, or even
any foreign leader, has
cared about his country as
much as Donald Trump.”q