This used to be Washington's Birthday but was transformed because advertiser's wanted a discrete "President's Day" for commerce reasons. From Wikipedia (which never lies!):
In the late 1980s, advertisers began playing a role in changing the holiday title. In 1986, when Congress implemented the second federal holiday tribute to an American-born citizen, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. of Georgia, they chose a Monday on which King's birthday would occasionally fall. With neither Washington's birthdate of February 22, due to the Congressional error, nor Lincoln's birthdate of February 12, ever falling on the third Monday, the way was open to promote a generic agenda.
Advertisers, noting the discrepancy, began to aggressively amalgamate separate Lincoln and Washington birthday sales into a longer "Presidents Day" sales period. The popularity of the term grew, and in the process the emphasis on Washington and his achievements began to diminish.
And so today we celebrate not only our finest President ever -- Mr. President, from Georgia, who did the thing -- but the wisdom of real national leaders, the advertisers.
