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Celebrating the Dream: 7 Interesting Facts About MLK Jr. Day

By Michael Gryboski, Editor

A Recent Holiday

President Ronald Reagan addresses the nation from the Oval Office on national security with a presentation on the Strategic Defense Initiative.
President Ronald Reagan addresses the nation from the Oval Office on national security with a presentation on the Strategic Defense Initiative. | (Photo: Wikimedia Commons/White House)

Efforts to make Dr. King's birthday, Jan. 15, a national holiday had existed since not long after his assassination, though none had been successful until the 1980s.

Republican President Ronald Reagan signed House Resolution 3706 into law on Nov. 2, 1983, making the third Monday of January "Martin Luther King Jr. Day."

"King was granted an honor that had, until that time, belonged only to George Washington," noted Time Magazine in a 2015 article.

"Congress passed a bill designating his birthday as a national holiday, to be celebrated on the third Monday in January, starting in 1986."

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