By SHARON SNYDER
Los Alamos Historical Society

In 1789, President George Washington issued a proclamation naming Thursday, November 26, as a “Day of Publick Thanksgivin”— the first time Thanksgiving was celebrated under the new Constitution.

From the time of Abraham Lincoln’s presidency, Thanksgiving was celebrated on the last Thursday in November, but in 1939 President Franklin Roosevelt upset the apple cart. He moved Thanksgiving to the second-to-last Thursday of the month.

The reason for change involved lobbyists and money and an unusual November calendar. In 1939, there were five Thursdays and Thanksgiving would be celebrated November 30th. Retailers were afraid that having Thanksgiving on the last day of the month would cut back on the amount of shopping before Christmas. On that basis, the retail lobbyists influenced Roosevelt to move Thanksgiving to the second-to-last Thursday, November 23rd of that year. The decision was not popular.

The change went against tradition. It disrupted travel plans, football schedules, and the already in-place production of calendars! Since the date for Thanksgiving wasn’t set down by federal law, state governors could decide the date for their individual states. Some went with the traditional date for celebrating, while others chose to follow the president. In three states, both days were celebrated! It seemed that Thanksgiving was becoming political.

In 1940, the president once again declared Thanksgiving to be the second-to-last Thursday. That year two-thirds of the states went with Roosevelt’s date, while the other third remained traditional and celebrated on the last Thursday of November.

The following year, a look at the previous two Christmas shopping seasons showed that profits were not significantly impacted by the date change. Based on those figures and popular demand, Roosevelt once again moved the date, placing Thanksgiving on its traditional day—the last Thursday of the month, to be effective in November of 1942.

However, after the multiple changes of the past three years, Congress decided to nail down the date and not rely on tradition. A resolution was passed that made the fourth Thursday in November the official date of Thanksgiving. The bill was signed into law by President Roosevelt in the last week of December, 1941.