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Whatever Became of Washington's Birthday?

Jason Bezis, a law student at the University of California at Berkeley, has always harbored a special appreciation for our first president. He wants the nation to refer to our annual Februrary federal holiday by its given name: Washington's Birthday.

Update: This story aired in 2001, but Bezis has continued his campaign. And in February 2005, U.S. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD), renewed his own bid to restore the name of the holiday, offering his proposed Washington-Lincoln Recognition Act to Congress. He first pushed the legislation forward in 1999.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Linda Wertheimer
As NPR's senior national correspondent, Linda Wertheimer travels the country and the globe for NPR News, bringing her unique insights and wealth of experience to bear on the day's top news stories.
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