Presidents' Day: A Convenient Amnesia
Mainstream outlets celebrate Presidents' Day as a patriotic observance, often focusing on benign trivia about Washington and Lincoln. This tradition began in 1879, honoring George Washington's birthday, a move that effectively whitewashes an inconvenient truth: Washington, the 'father of the nation,' was also a devoted enslaver of over 300 human beings at the time of his death, a fact often
relegated to academic footnotes. This selective remembrance isn't new. In 1853, the US annexed nearly half of Mexico following a war of aggression. President James K. Polk, much like George W. Bush in 2003, secured congressional approval by emphasizing supposed Mexican provocations, directly contrasting with contemporary Mexican accounts of US encroachment, despite Polk’s own diary entries
revealing his expansionist aims. Fast forward to 1993, when Bill Clinton signed NAFTA, heralded as a prosperity pact, yet it predictably devastated Mexican agriculture, displacing millions and creating the very migration crisis the US now decries. The pattern is clear: venerate the leaders, bury the imperial cost. This calculated historical management prevents a critical examination of US foreign
policy, which has consistently prioritized expansion and economic dominance, from the Banana Wars of the early 20th century, which saw US presidents deploy military force to protect corporate interests, to today's 'democracy promotion' in resource-rich nations. Curiously, the term 'Presidents' Day' itself wasn't formally recognized by Congress; it's a popular designation for what remains legally