The Historical Roots of Thanksgiving Proclamations

This episode covers President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s decision to move the date of Thanksgiving with the hope of helping businesses that were trying to recover from the Great Depression – and the controversy that caused. 

Research:

• Associated Press. “’Omnipotence of Hitler.’” Decatur Daily Review. 8/17/1939.
• Associated Press. “Roosevelt to Move Thanksgiving; Retailers For It, Plymouth is Not.” New York Times. 8/15/1939. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1939/08/15/93946606.html
• Franklin D. Roosevelt, Proclamation 2373—Thanksgiving Day Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/210189
• Franklin D. Roosevelt, Proclamation 2571—Thanksgiving Day Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/210254
• Franklin D. Roosvelt Library and Museum. “The Year We Had Two Thanksgivings.” http://docs.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/thanksg.html
• George Washington’s Mount Vernon. “Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1789.” https://www.mountvernon.org/education/primary-source-collections/primary-source-collections/article/thanksgiving-proclamation-of-1789
• Greninger, Edwin T. “Thanksgiving: An American Holiday.” Social Science , WINTER 1979, Vol. 54, No. 1 (WINTER 1979). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41886345
• History, Art and Archives: U.S. House of Representatives. “The Thanksgiving Holiday.” https://history.house.gov/Historical-Highlights/1901-1950/The-Thanksgiving-holiday/
• Isbell, Matthew. “’Franksgiving’ – The Period from 1939 through 1941 when Thanksgiving was Partisan.” MCIMaps. 11/22/2017. https://mcimaps.com/franksgiving-the-period-from-1939-through-1941-where-thanksgiving-was-a-partisan-issue/
• Kratz, Jessie. “Thanksgiving as a Federal Holiday.” U.S. National Archives. 11/20/2023. https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2023/11/20/thanksgiving-as-a-federal-holiday/ Notre Dame Magazine. “From the Archives: Franksgiving.” https://magazine.nd.edu/stories/from-the-archives-franksgiving/
• Pilgrim Hall Museum. “Continental Congress Proclamations 1778-1784.” https://pilgrimhall.org/pdf/TG_Continental_Congress_Proclamations_1778_1784.pdf
• Pilgrim Hall Museum. “Presidential Thanksgiving Proclamations.” https://pilgrimhall.org/pdf/TG_Presidential_Thanksgiving_Proclamations_1789_1815.pdf.
• Public Opinion News Service. “Public Sees Thanksgiving Issue Through Party Glasses.” Gallup. 8/25/1939.
• “Protests Against Advance Date for Thanksgiving Day Pour In.” The Bulletin. 8/15/1939. https://www.newspapers.com/image/101168276/
• Shafer, Ronald G. “Franklin Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving up a week to goose the economy. Chaos ensued..” Washington Post. 11/24/2021. https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/11/24/franskgiving-fdr-moved-thanksgiving/
• Soodalter, Ron. "'For all the great and various favors': George Washington happily obliged Congress' request for a national day of thanksgiving. Opponents worried it was an overreach of executive privilege." American History, vol. 49, no. 5, Dec. 2014, pp. 44+. Gale In Context: U.S. History, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A383327692/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=64a53d59. Accessed 24 Oct. 2024.
• The Center for Legislative Archives. “Congress Establishes Thanksgiving.” https://www.archives.gov/legislative/features/thanksgiving
• Thomas, Heather. “A Presidential History of Thanksgiving.” 11/24/2021. Library of Congress Blog. https://blogs.loc.gov/headlinesandheroes/2021/11/a-presidential-history-of-thanksgiving/
• Washington Papers. “Thanksgiving Proclamation.” https://washingtonpapers.org/documents/thanksgiving-proclamation/

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