M. L. King, Jr. National Holiday Bill Signed
by: Dr. Clint Wilson
Some 15 years after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., President Ronald Reagan signed a bill making the third week in January a national holiday, honoring the civil rights leader and Nobel Prize winner.
Although Americans now take the annual observance for granted, efforts to honor King with a national holiday met considerable resistance in the years after his death. Arizona, for example, exhibited strong opposition to the holiday and reluctantly accepted it only after numerous national organizations boycotted the state, refusing to hold annual conventions there. This resulted in millions of dollars in lost tourism revenue.
It was ironic that Reagan, among the nation’s most politically conservative presidents, was the chief executive who ultimately signed the bill into law. The celebration of the holiday began three years later in 1986.
