The holiday began as Washington’s Birthday, February 22. The Uniform Monday Holiday Act moved the federal observance to the third Monday of February. In common speech it became Presidents’ Day.
The office is larger than any one person. It is the people’s office. House seats belong to districts. Senate seats belong to a single state. The presidency is the only office chosen by the people of all fifty states — each state casting electors under the Constitution, the whole country in the same contest.
That is why the day is not a personality cult. Washington walked away. Lincoln held the Union. Every president is hired by a continental people and, if the system holds, sent home. A republic can admire the chair without kneeling to whoever sits in it.