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When we think of Thanksgiving, images of Native Americans and Pilgrims having huge harvest feasts comes to mind, but we rarely discuss how the modern version of Thanksgiving came to be. Following the ratification of the United States Constitution, President George Washington issued a proclamation naming Thursday, November 26, 1789, a holiday of “sincere and humble thanks.” But it was Abraham Lincoln who made the traditional Thanksgiving celebration a nationwide holiday to be commemorated each year on the fourth Thursday of November.
On Oct. 3, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Thanksgiving Proclamation, enumerating the blessings of the American people, despite an ongoing Civil War. He called upon his countrymen to "set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise."
In the 1930s, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving to the third Thursday of November to lengthen the Christmas shopping season and boost the economy which was suffering from the Depression. FDR's action to move Thanksgiving sparked a national debate and in 1941 was reversed when Congress passed and President Roosevelt approved a joint house resolution establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day per Lincoln's 1863 Proclamation.
Craig speaks with Professor of History at Wayne State University, Marc Kruman and Professor of History at the University of Detroit Mercy, Gregory Sumner about the history of Thanksgiving and President Abraham Lincoln's role in making it the official national holiday we know today.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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