Thanksgiving is the oldest national holiday in the United States. However its observation is not a continuous presence in American history. While the celebration of Thanksgiving predates even the founding of the nation it was proclaimed by George Washington then ignored by Thomas Jefferson. From then on it was sporadically observed until Abraham Lincoln who once again introduced a National Day of Prayer and Thanksgiving to the United States.
Indeed it was Lincoln who set the day as the last Thursday in November. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt changed the day between 1939 and 1941 which was highly controversial. The days were called Franksgiving." Roosevelt changed the date because retailers communicated to him through the Retail Dry Goods Association and the Secretary of Commerce that the late date of Thanksgiving that year (the last day of November) might negatively impact retail sales. It was considered bad form to put up Christmas decorations or put on Christmas sales before Thanksgiving.
If only we still lived in such times.
In 1942 Congress set Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday of the month and here it has stood since then.
Continue reading Thanksgiving: The Forgotten History of Americas Thanksgiving and What It Commemorates at Ammo.com.
Thanksgiving is the oldest national holiday in the United States. However its observation is not a continuous presence in American history. While the celebration of Thanksgiving predates even the founding of the nation it was proclaimed by George Washington then ignored by Thomas Jefferson. From then on it was sporadically observed until Abraham Lincoln who once again introduced a National Day of Prayer and Thanksgiving to the United States.
Indeed it was Lincoln who set the day as the last Thursday in November. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt changed the day between 1939 and 1941 which was highly controversial. The days were called Franksgiving." Roosevelt changed the date because retailers communicated to him through the Retail Dry Goods Association and the Secretary of Commerce that the late date of Thanksgiving that year (the last day of November) might negatively impact retail sales. It was considered bad form to put up Christmas decorations or put on Christmas sales before Thanksgiving.
If only we still lived in such times.
In 1942 Congress set Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday of the month and here it has stood since then.
Continue reading Thanksgiving: The Forgotten History of Americas Thanksgiving and What It Commemorates at Ammo.com.