Presidents Day - Ronald Reagan Too

Editorial: Happy Presidents Day

"The purpose of the memorial is to communicate the founding, expansion, preservation, and unification of the United States with colossal statues of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt."—Gutzon Borglum, designer of Mount Rushmore.

Mount Rushmore National Park attracts about three million visitors each year. The four Presidents, Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt, were sculpted into the mountain to represent 150 years of American history and America's cultural heritage.

Two of these Presidents receive special recognition on the third Monday in February — known as Presidents Day.

Presidents Day is a day to celebrate the lives of Presidents Washington and Lincoln. America's beloved first President was born, according to the Gregorian calendar, on Feb. 22, 1732. And America's 16^th President was born on Feb. 12, 1809.

In 1971, Congress decided to merge the birthdays into a one-day celebration and deemed that "Washington's Birthday," also known as Presidents Day, would be moved from February 22 to the third Monday in February.

Though Presidents Day is often celebrated with store sales and a day off work, this year's celebration includes another notable American President.

President Ronald Reagan was born on Feb. 6, 1911, and this year American's all over the nation are celebrating his centennial birthday. As America's 40^th President, his policies and attributes to the presidency are still being studied and reviewed and his notable personality and speeches remain highly regarded.

To celebrate those Presidents to be honored on Presidents Day, including President Reagan, here are some notable quotations that highlight their contribution to America's prosperity and greatness:

"Believing that a representative government, responsible at short periods of election, is that which produces the greatest sum of happiness to mankind, I feel it a duty to do no act which shall essentially impair that principle."—George Washington

"I leave you hoping that the lamp of liberty will burn in your bosoms until there shall no longer be a doubt that all men are created free and equal."—Abraham Lincoln

President Washington was responsible for starting a nation, President Lincoln for holding a nation together and President Reagan winning the Cold War. Though today's battle is different it is just as important for the future prosperity of the nation. Congress and the President must address government spending and stop the country from spiraling down a path to insolvency.

They must remember the words of President Reagan:

"Let us be sure that those who come after will say of us, that in our time we did everything that could be done. We finished the race; we kept them free; we kept the faith."—Ronald Reagan

If only there was room for one more on Mount Rushmore.

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