Columbus Day in Denver. The first statewide holiday was proclaimed by Colorado governor Jesse F. McDonald in 1905, and it was made a statutory holiday in 1907. In April 1934, as a result of lobbying by the Knights of Columbus and New York City Italian leader Generoso Pope, Congress and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt proclaimed October 12 be a federal holiday under the name Columbus Day. Since 1971 (Oct. 11), the holiday has been attributed to the second Monday in October, coincidentally exactly the same day as Thanksgivingin neighboring Canada since 1957. It is generally observed nowadays by banks, the bond market,
Columbus Day mainstream. Surveys conducted in 2013 and 2015 found 26% to 38% of American adults not in favor of celebrating Columbus Day. There are many interrelated strands of criticism. One refers primarily to the treatment of the indigenous populations during the European colonization of the Americas which followed Columbus's discovery. Some groups, such as the American Indian Movement, have argued that the ongoing actions and injustices against Native Americans are masked by Columbus myths and celebrations. American anthropologist Jack Weatherford says that on Columbus Day, Americans celebrate the greatest waves of genocide of the American Indians known in history. A second