Thanksgiving in Business History
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Big controversy surrounded the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday in 1939 when President Roosevelt moved the holiday up one week at the request of the business community.
Prior to that year, the holiday was traditionally proclaimed as the last Thursday of November. Because in 1939 Thanksgiving fell on the 30th, businesses were concerned they would lose a sales week for the Christmas season and successfully lobbied for a change.
It didn’t go over well with everyone, disrupting many already deeply established events and schedules. That year (and for the next two) many Americans celebrated the holiday on different days – the new date and the perceived traditional date.
In December of 1941, Congress passed a law that locked down a single date for Thanksgiving – the fourth Thursday of November – regardless of sales days.
Check out some of the original notes sent to FDR on the Thanksgiving date change and get a lesson on persistence by Sarah Hale below – the person many credit for driving the creation of a formal Thanksgiving holiday beginning in 1863 (the Pilgrims were long gone).
(4 minutes from History.com on Thanksgiving – good one for the kids)
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A lesson in persistence
Thanksgiving was not always the traditional November holiday it is today.
As a specifically set day, it began in 1863 with Abraham Lincoln’s declaration. It’s widely believed Sarah Hale drove the proclamation. Hale was an influential editor and writer for Godey’s Ladies Book (a very early-day Oprah/ Martha). Each year in November, beginning in 1846, she published editorials encouraging the establishment of a national holiday for thanksgiving.
It took almost 20 years.
(more about Hale – also the author of Mary Had a Little Lamb)
Happy Smanksgiving!
(Smovish for Thanksgiving)
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