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==Modern Meaning==
In the 1968, Congress moved to make what was now becoming called Memorial Day a uniform holiday. The last Monday of May was chose as it was the closest date to May 30th that also made the holiday give workers a three-day weekend, ample time to celebrate their departed loved ones. In some ways, the act by Congress could have been prompted by what was becoming an unpopular war in Vietnam. Nevertheless, the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which was the act passed by Congress that made the day a federal holiday, took some years before it went into effect. In 1971, the first federally recognized Memorial Day occurred on the last Monday of May.<ref>For more on Congress declaring the official federal holiday of Memorial Day, see: Dean, S. (2011). <i>Memorial Day</i>. New York: Gareth Stevens Pub. </ref>
For many, Memorial Day has continued to be an occasion to visit departed loved ones. Cities, which had already developed in the years after the Civil War with military-style parades, to continue and elaborate on the tradition now that it was a federal holiday. Chicago, New York, and Washington often have had the biggest parades. The tradition of having an official celebration at Arlington National Cemetery, which was established in the Civil War. The president, after the holiday had been passed as a federal holiday, began to use the occasion to visit Arlington National Cemetery to make a Memorial Day speech to remember fallen soldiers from past and often, these days, current conflicts. <ref>For more on Arlington National Cemetery's history and role in Memorial Day, see: Poole, R. M. (2013). <i>On Hallowed Ground The Story of Arlington National Cemetery</i>. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing USA. </ref>
Barbecues and family gathering were established as long weekends began to be the norm in the 1970s. Already in the earlier years people had gathered for family meals that sometimes included barbecues. For many, the occasion also often sees improving weather and a long, three-day weekend offers opportunity for mini-getaways. This began to make Memorial Day the unofficial start of summer, where at least many colleges at least had by then finished their courses. During the Vietnam War, not only did the dead gain national attention during first Decoration and then Memorial Day, but prisoners of war (POWs) soon began to be on the conscious of many. Memorial Day was seen as an opportunity, by veterans associations, as a time to remember the missing and POWs and not just the officially dead. Thus, today Memorial Day is often a time to reflect on those who might still be missing in conflicts as well as those who have been official listed as dying in battle or as a casualty of war.
