Presidents’ Day is creeping up on us and our current commander-in-chief continues to cement his legacy during the early weeks of his nascent second administration. One of No. 47’s ideas is annexing Canada, a friendly ally.
The U.S. invaded our international neighbor to the far north with little success during the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. Canadians seem to like their country the way it has been since then, and have little desire to be our 51st state.
Quite a few dead U.S. presidents are perhaps frowning in the hereafter after Donald Trump continues to push for the annexation of Canada. Even George Washington, one of the presidents we celebrate on Feb. 17. He was around when the first U.S. invasion of Canada, a foray to seize the province of Quebec, took place from 1775 to 1776.
Originally, Presidents’ Day was for Washington’s Birthday, marking his birth on Feb. 22. Honoring Washington, a Founding Father born in 1732 and our first president, had been a federal holiday since 1879.
In order to give federal workers a three-day weekend, in 1968 Congress combined Washington’s birthday with the birthday of President Abraham Lincoln to give federal employees a three-day weekend. Thus, Presidents’ Day was born.
It also was a boon for Illinois government workers who not only get a day off for Lincoln’s Birthday, Feb. 12, to honor one of our favorite sons and a legend. They also receive the bonus federal holiday on the third Monday of February.
President Trump is one of a number of presidents to visit Lake County. He landed at Waukegan National Airport on Sept. 1, 2020, and immediately motored north on the interstate to a campaign appearance in Kenosha, Wisconsin. That was during the heated campaign against former Vice President Joe Biden who, many remember, bested Trump.
Trump needs to return to the county, maybe with our co-president Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and leader of the DOGE squad aiming to slash federal spending and programs. The next time, Trump should stay for a bit, like presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton did.
Reagan spent time at the old Sara Lee Corp. in October of 1985; Clinton at a Highland Park fundraiser in 1997. Other presidents who made stops in the county over the decades have included Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876 and 1878; William McKinley, the last president to serve during the Civil War, in 1900; William Howard Taft, who was at the dedication of Naval Station Great Lakes on Oct. 28, 1911; and Woodrow Wilson, who also toured Great Lakes during World War I. Franklin D. Roosevelt did the same during World War II.
Many in the once-deep-red Libertyville-Mundelein area may recall the campaign rally of then-Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kennedy, held on Oct. 25, 1960. Kennedy, accompanied by a slew of Democratic state officials, spoke in front of the stately Ansel B. Cook Mansion, which was then Libertyville’s main library. This October will be the 60th anniversary of Kennedy’s appearance in Libertyville.
An estimated crowd of more than 7,000 turned out for the election stop on a chilly fall morning. Kennedy, who went on to best then-Vice President Richard Nixon with a slim victory in the November election, called on those present to determine if they were “concerned or comfortable” with the U.S. of 1960.
It was a stirring speech that certainly gained him enough Lake County votes to squeak out the election win. Like today where there is some debate over the steel industry.
President Trump just the other day slapped tariffs on imported steel. In 1960, the industry also was a topic of debate between Kennedy and Nixon at a time when American steel companies lost more than 100,000 jobs in a two-year span.
While it is presidents we celebrate this coming Monday, there are those already planning for the 2028 presidential election. They should be coming this way during the coming years.
Lake County has seen its share of presidential candidates make tours of the area prior to primary and general elections. Some made it to the White House, like President Barack Obama, who was at the College of Lake County in Grayslake a month before the 2008 election. Many failed in their presidential attempts.
Indeed, the county is littered with campaign visits by those who didn’t become president such as Vice President Al Gore, who was in Highland Park in 1999; Congressman Morris Udall, D-Ariz., in 1975; U.S. Sen. Allan Cranston, D-Calif.; Illinois Congressman John Anderson, R-Rockford, in 1980; Vice President Walter Mondale in Waukegan in 1984; U.S. Sen. Paul Simon, D-Ill., at CLC in 1992; and U.S. Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., also at CLC in July 1996.
Of course, Democrat Adlai Stevenson lived in Mettawa while he campaigned unsuccessfully twice for president in 1952 and 1956, when he was known as “the Man from Libertyville.” Stevenson oozed presidential timber, but, alas, only 46 Americans so far have become our supreme leader.
Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor.
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