Nixon, Reagan Libraries Mark Presidents Day Holiday With Special Events
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — On Presidents Day Monday, admission will be free at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library & Museum in Yorba Linda, while the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley will mark the occasion with a set of family-oriented activities.
The Nixon Library will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The first 100 guests receive a free slice of cherry pie.
Actors portraying the presidents on Mount Rushmore -- Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and George Washington -- will be available for pictures throughout the day.
A special presentation on the nation's presidents will be presented at 1:30 p.m. in the East Room.
More information on the Nixon Library is available by calling (714) 993-5075 or online at library.nixonfoundation.org or nixonlibrary.gov.
The Reagan Library will conduct its 20th annual Presidents Day Celebration from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with presidential and first lady lookalikes, music and storytelling. Admission is free, with food available for purchase.
The library will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with its regular admission rates -- $15 for adults, $9 for children ages 11 to 17 years old and $12 for ages 62 and older. Children under 10 years old are admitted free.
More information on the Reagan Library is available by calling (800) 410-8354 or online at reaganlibrary.com or reaganfoundation.org.
"Discover the Real George Washington: New Views from Mount Vernon" will be on display at the Reagan Library from Wednesday through May 18. The exhibit will showcase approximately 100 original objects associated with Washington, including the only surviving complete set of his dentures.
The exhibit also includes life-size figures of Washington developed through cutting-edge forensics, three-dimensional architectural models, videos and interactive displays.
The exhibit deals with Washington's life as a general, president, young land surveyor, experimental farmer and entrepreneur. It also explores Washington's views on religion and slavery and the influence of his wife Martha.
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 Abraham Lincoln's birthdays.
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