Presidents Day (officially still called “Washington’s Birthday”) became a federal holiday through an act of Congress in the 19th century, signed by President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1879. It was later moved to the third Monday in February by the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, passed by Congress in 1968 and taking effect in 1971 under President Richard Nixon, which helped solidify the modern “Presidents Day” observance.

Quick Scoop

  • The holiday began as a federal celebration of George Washington’s birthday.
  • Congress created it as a federal holiday in 1879, and Hayes signed it into law.
  • In 1885 it expanded to all federal offices, not just Washington, D.C.
  • The 1968 Uniform Monday Holiday Act moved it to a Monday, creating the long weekend and broadening its popular meaning to honor multiple presidents.

Who “made” it a national holiday?

If you’re asking who formally turned it into a U.S. federal holiday:

  1. Origin as Washington’s Birthday
    • Senator Stephen Wallace Dorsey of Arkansas introduced the bill to make Washington’s Birthday a federal holiday.
 * President Rutherford B. Hayes signed that bill in 1879, making Washington’s Birthday an official federal holiday (initially just for federal workers in D.C.).

 * By 1885, Congress extended it to all federal offices nationwide, effectively making it a national-level federal holiday.
  1. Shift toward “Presidents Day”
    • In the late 1960s, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act to move several holidays (including Washington’s Birthday) to Mondays, mainly to create three‑day weekends.
 * The law passed in 1968 and took effect in 1971 after an order from President Richard Nixon, moving the observance to the third Monday in February.

 * After this shift, the public and many states increasingly referred to it as “Presidents Day” and often treated it as honoring Washington, Lincoln, and sometimes all presidents.

So, the key names

  • Sen. Stephen Wallace Dorsey (Arkansas) – Sponsored the original legislation making Washington’s Birthday a federal holiday.
  • President Rutherford B. Hayes – Signed that bill into law in 1879, creating the federal holiday.
  • U.S. Congress (1968) – Passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act moving the date and helping create the modern “Presidents Day” long weekend.
  • President Richard Nixon – Issued the order implementing the Monday-holiday change in 1971.

A tiny bit of “latest/trending” context

Each February, you’ll see:

  • Renewed debates online about what the day is really called (legally “Washington’s Birthday” vs. popular “Presidents Day”).
  • Articles and forum discussions revisiting lesser-known facts, like that the federal law never officially renamed it “Presidents Day” and that different states still use different names.

In short: Congress created Washington’s Birthday as a federal holiday in 1879, Hayes signed it, and later Congress plus Nixon’s implementation turned it into the Monday holiday we now casually call “Presidents Day.”

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.