Presidents’/’s/s Day?

So is it Presidents Day, President’s Day, or Presidents’ Day? I’ve seen all three punctuations in various places, calendars and ads and news stories. The online Washington Post has two conflicting headlines on its main page – “Flick Picks for Presidents’ Day” and “President’s Day 2012.”

Actually, it’s none of the above. The official holiday is Washington’s Birthday. It was made a national holiday on June 28, 1968. But in the 1980s, advertisers – wanting to expand the scope of the celebration (and their profits) – successfully pushed to change it (at least in the media) to Presidents’ Day. Sales are the business of day, commercial commemoration, not historical commemoration. There are no speeches or parades or picnics. Children don’t exchange cards or gifts at school. No fireworks down by the river. Besides the Presidents’/’s/s Day sales, the only tribute of the day is federal workers getting it off.

But then what would we celebrate if we wanted to on Presidents’/’s/s Day? I don’t think anyone would agree that we should pay homage to all of our presidents. Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Roosevelt (both)? – Sure. But Buchanan, Harding, Coolidge, Bush (both)? – What’s to celebrate? So it’s probably best that we just leave the day to commerce and postal employees.