Today marks the remembrance of a very important Southern man who fought an important, and largely Southern battle: the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  While certainly everyone knows the struggle for civil rights that King spearheaded, probably few know the controversial history of this holiday.

The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.

Ronald Reagan officially signed the bill making MLK Day a holiday in 1983, even though he was vocally against the creation of a holiday honoring King.  In fact, even when announcing he would sign the bill, his resignation at doing so is clearly evident:

Since they seem bent on making it a national holiday, I believe the symbolism of that day is important enough that I would—I’ll sign that legislation when it reaches my desk.

And Reagan wasn’t the only one to fight the passage of this historic national holiday.  Sen. Jesse Helms of South Carolina mounted a filibuster against the bill, and also impugned King’s character by calling him a “Marxist.”  And don’t forget another notable Senator who fought the passage of a national King holiday: a certain Arizonan Senator by the name of John McCain.  McCain even defended the rescinding of the holiday by then Arizona governor Evan Mecham.

It may surprise people to learn that a few notable political figures opposed the bill commemorating such a revered figure as Martin Luther King.  However, it may be more surprising that it took Democratic Michigan Congressman John Conyers 15 years to make the date an official holiday.  Conyers started pressing for the bill immediately following King’s death, and it took numerous attempts at rallying support, many of which nearly passed but failed, to get the federal holiday recognized.

Even after the bill passed however, there was still more controversy surrounding the holiday.  Only in 2000 did Virginia move to celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day; instead of celebrating its rather odd combination of “Lee-Jackson-King Day.”  It apparently took the state 17 years to realize that it was a bad idea to combine Confederate Generals Lee and Jackson, with the pacifist, civil-rights leader King. (Of course, much like the “flag battles” in the 90’s over the removal of Confederate flags from official state areas; this combination holiday was likely a symbolic slight on King).

Similarly it wasn’t until 2000, when Governor Jim Hodges finally made MLK Day an official state holiday for South Carolina.  This officially made South Carolina the last in the Union to have a state holiday for Dr. King.

Hopefully these struggles (and the fact that only 33% of employers give time off for the holiday), should demonstrate that King’s legacy is far from fulfilled.