Nixon, Reagan Libraries Offer Free Activities on Presidents Day

Admission will be free at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library & Museum in Yorba Linda today for Presidents Day, while the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley will mark the holiday with a free set of family-oriented activities.

The Nixon Library will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with the first 300 visitors receiving a free slice of cherry pie.

Actors portraying the presidents depicted on Mount Rushmore — Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and George Washington — will be available for pictures.

James C. Humes will discuss his book "Presidents and Their Pens: The Story of White House Speechwriters," an exploration of 23 presidencies through the detailed analysis of speeches, at 11 a.m. Humes was a speechwriter for

Nixon, Reagan, and Presidents Dwight Eisenhower, Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush.

The Air Force Band of the Golden West will perform a concert at 2 p.m.

Michael P. Balzano will discuss his book "Building a New Majority," explaining Nixon, Reagan and Bush's election victories, at 3 p.m. Balzano worked for Nixon, Reagan and Bush.

More information on the Nixon Library is available by calling 714-983-9120 or online at nixonfoundation.org or nixonlibrary.gov.

The Reagan Library will conduct its 24th annual Presidents Day Celebration from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., including crafts, musical entertainment, storytelling and presidential and first lady lookalikes.

Admission is free to the celebration, with food available for purchase.

The library will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with its regular admission prices — $21 for adults, $15 for children ages 11 to 17 years old, $10 for children ages 3 to 10, and $18 for ages 62 and older. Children 2 and under are admitted free.

More information on the Reagan Library is available by calling 805-522-2977 or online at reaganfoundation.org.

Although commonly known as Presidents Day, the Monday holiday is still legally Washington's Birthday.

The holiday was shifted from Feb. 22 to the third Monday in February 1971 under the terms of the Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1968. Because the holiday falls between Feb. 15 and 21 it can never fall on the actual anniversary of Washington's birth in 1732.

The term Presidents Day began being popularized in the 1980s, when retailers combined sales formerly held in conjunction with Washington and Lincoln's birthdays.

Lincoln's birthday has never been a federal holiday.

Copyright CNS - City News Service
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