A Presidential History of Thanksgiving

History of Thanksgiving

READ ALSO

[{"selector":"#anim-28113597-47a4-4d50-a338-ed521fae7850","keyframes":[{"transform":"scale(1)","offset":0},{"transform":"scale(1.05)","offset":0.33},{"transform":"scale(0.995)","offset":0.66},{"transform":"scale(1)","offset":1}],"delay":0,"duration":600,"easing":"ease-in-out","fill":"both","iterations":3}] [{"selector":"#anim-f3d70471-8585-47fa-b9d5-01b4a653e246","keyframes":{"opacity":[0,1]},"delay":350,"duration":3000,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.4, 0.4, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-84a9be6e-76c7-4022-b5fd-6fc3ca36ff2a","keyframes":{"opacity":[0,1]},"delay":300,"duration":2000,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.4, 0.4, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-cc3f72d3-31f5-43b6-b741-1788b9b952ff","keyframes":{"opacity":[0,1]},"delay":350,"duration":3000,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.4, 0.4, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-b2fe0c06-c8fe-4d11-a9a4-5037255b768c","keyframes":{"opacity":[0,1]},"delay":300,"duration":2000,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.4, 0.4, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-e7650c67-fd1c-4421-aeca-17f5b68b8516","keyframes":{"opacity":[0,1]},"delay":350,"duration":3000,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.4, 0.4, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-94f6a4a7-2a5b-41a1-9f99-eb0ffa816de5","keyframes":{"opacity":[0,1]},"delay":300,"duration":2000,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.4, 0.4, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] 29 Tips to Make Your Breasts Grow Faster 5 Ways My Family Makes My Life Happier 8 Practical First Kiss Tips

A Presidential History of Thanksgiving

Learn More

History of Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has long been celebrated at the White House, but in addition to giving thanks, the presidency has a long history with the holiday.

History of Thanksgiving

Today we celebrate Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November, but prior to 1941, Thanksgiving was not a fixed date on the calendar but whenever the President proclaimed it to be.

History of Thanksgiving

President George Washington was the first to issue a proclamation for the holiday in 1789, designating Thursday, November 26 “for the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving.” This marked the first national celebration of the holiday under the new Constitution.

History of Thanksgiving

Thomas Jefferson refused to endorse the tradition when he declined to make a proclamation in 1801. For Jefferson, supporting the holiday meant supporting state-sponsored religion since Thanksgiving is rooted in Puritan religious traditions.

History of Thanksgiving

At the time, Jefferson’s political foes, the Federalists, often used his stance on the separation of church and state as a political weapon to try and convince Americans that he was an atheist who was making America less godly.

History of Thanksgiving

In November 1801, a Baptist group from Connecticut had written to Jefferson expressing concern that the state’s constitution did not explicitly provide religious liberty and they wanted to confirm that they would be protected under his presidency.

History of Thanksgiving

In a draft letter to the group, Jefferson addressed Federalist accusations by explaining that he considered declaring fasts or days of thanksgiving to be expressions of religion and that he opposed them because they were remnants of Britain’s reign over the American colonies.

History of Thanksgiving

History of Thanksgiving

Ironically, Jefferson had once declared a Thanksgiving while serving as governor of Virginia in 1779. He declared a day of Thanksgiving and Prayer.

History of Thanksgiving

He later explained that he was willing to do so as governor, but not as president because he believed he could not endorse such a holiday without conflicting with the First Amendment. He also considered days of thanksgiving the responsibility of the states, not the federal government.

History of Thanksgiving

Between 1846-1863, influential author and editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book, Sarah Josepha Hale, petitioned Congress and five different presidents (Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce, Buchanan, and Lincoln) to create a national annual holiday for Thanksgiving.

History of Thanksgiving

Hale was from New England where, by the mid-19th century, celebrating and giving thanks for abundant autumn harvests was an established tradition.

History of Thanksgiving

She finally had success when in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday on the last Thursday in November. Lincoln’s proclamation urged the nation to heal its wounds and restore “peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.”

History of Thanksgiving

It is said that in 1865, President Andrew Johnson forgot to issue a Thanksgiving Proclamation until a church delegation called on him. He then proclaimed that the first Thursday in December (the 7th) would be Thanksgiving.

History of Thanksgiving

Although since Andrew Johnson, the holiday has been celebrated in late November, presidents before him had proclaimed Thanksgiving in various other months.

History of Thanksgiving

For example, President James Madison proclaimed September 9th as the date in 1813 and proclaimed March 16th in 1815.

History of Thanksgiving

When Franklin Roosevelt first became president in 1933, Thanksgiving was still not a fixed holiday, but left up to the President to issue a Thanksgiving Proclamation to declare the date the holiday would fall on that year.

History of Thanksgiving

Up to that point, a precedent had been set that the holiday would be celebrated on the last Thursday of the month, but this tradition became difficult to continue during the Great Depression.

History of Thanksgiving

Roosevelt’s first Thanksgiving in office fell on November 30 because November had five Thursdays that year. Being that the holiday fell on the last day of the month meant that there were about 20 shopping days left before Christmas.

History of Thanksgiving

Business leaders knew that statistically, most people waited to start their holiday shopping until after Thanksgiving and they feared they would lose crucial revenue that an extra week would bring.

History of Thanksgiving

They urged President Roosevelt to move the holiday up a week to Thursday, November 23, but ultimately he decided to keep it on the last Thursday since it had been the tradition for the past seventy years.

History of Thanksgiving

In 1939, the country was still recovering from the Great Depression when Thanksgiving threatened to fall on the last day of November once again. This time, however, President Roosevelt did move the date up a week to November 23, but the change proved to be controversial.

History of Thanksgiving

He was called a “tradition-defier” in the press and some states decided to celebrate Thanksgiving on November 30 anyway. “I was quite unprepared for the storm it kicked up,” Roosevelt told the Skyland Post,

History of Thanksgiving

“It looked to me for a while as if New England would secede from the union.” Family and friends who lived in different states, such as New York and Connecticut, did not have the same days off and were unable to celebrate together.

History of Thanksgiving

For two more years, President Roosevelt observed Thanksgiving on the last Thursday of November, but the level of public outrage led Congress to pass a law (77 H. J. Res. 41) on December 26, 1941,

History of Thanksgiving

making the fourth Thursday in November a legal holiday, ensuring that all Americans would celebrate a unified Thanksgiving.

History of Thanksgiving

In 1947, President Harry S. Truman presided over the first live turkey ceremony by the Poultry and Egg National Board and the event established an annual tradition at the White House.

History of Thanksgiving

Originally, the birds presented were intended for the Thanksgiving meal. The presentation birds given to presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson from 1963 to 1967 had signs around their necks that read “Good Eating Mr. President.”

History of Thanksgiving

History of Thanksgiving

Brooks noted that Lincoln’s son Tad asked his father to spare the turkey’s life. Tad had adopted the turkey as a pet. It is said that although Lincoln did spare this turkey’s life for Thanksgiving dinner, the turkey was planned for Christmas dinner instead.

History of Thanksgiving

It wasn’t until November 14, 1989 that President George H. W. Bush officially “granted a Presidential pardon” to an unnamed turkey, a tradition that continues today.

History of Thanksgiving

He quipped, “But let me assure you, and this fine tom turkey, that he will not end up on anyone’s dinner table, not this guy—he’s presented a Presidential pardon as of right now—

History of Thanksgiving

and allow him to live out his days on a children’s farm not far from here.” In 2004, his son, President George W. Bush, pardoned two turkeys named Biscuits and Gravy.

READ ALSO