In former President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s White House, it was known as “Proclamation 2373.”
In American culture, it swiftly became known as “Franksgiving” and was one of the most unpopular decisions made by the 32nd president.
“I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate Thursday, the twenty-third of November, 1939, as a day of general thanksgiving,” he said.
THE UNSUNG HERO OF ROLLING THUNDER MINE
Roosevelt framed the date change in high-minded references to former President George Washington, the Constitution, and “Divine Providence.” But the real driver was simple: retailers feared that holding Thanksgiving on Nov. 30 would leave only three weeks for Christmas shopping.
Thanksgiving, a harvest celebration as old as the republic, was first proclaimed by Washington on Oct. 3, 1789. In that proclamation, he designated “a day of public thanks-giving” to be observed on “Thursday the 26th day of November.”
Washington’s proclamation appeared in newspapers across all 13 states, including the Pennsylvania Packet, and Daily Advertiser on Oct. 9, 1789, marking the first national observance of Thanksgiving.
The proclamation guided former President Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation, which was released exactly 74 years later on Oct. 3. Citing “our first president’s example,” Lincoln designated the last Thursday of November as the national day of Thanksgiving.
Roosevelt offered only a brief explanation, noting that retailers wanted a longer Christmas shopping season, and likely assumed the change was no big deal.
But it was.
The country was essentially divided. Twenty-two governors agreed to adopt the new date, while 23 decided not to. Two states, Texas and Colorado, decided to do both. Roosevelt was so dug in that he continued with the earlier date the following year.
Former Atlantic City Mayor Charles White quipped that the new date should be called “Franksgiving,” a label that quickly caught on. The proclamation sparked responses ranging from playful to furious. The film Holiday Inn even satirized the chaos with an animated turkey leaping between the third and fourth Thursdays in November, reflecting the public’s uncertainty over the true date of Thanksgiving.
In 1941, the U.S. Postal Service observed the new “Franksgiving” date, but many workers in states such as Nebraska still celebrated the traditional Thanksgiving. As a result, postal employees were required to work on a day their families were observing as a holiday, keeping many government workers from spending it at home.
Roosevelt was really dug in until he wasn’t.
In 1941, after eight years in office, Time magazine observed that Roosevelt did something unprecedented for his presidency: He admitted he was wrong. Under the headline “President Admits Mistake,” the magazine recounted how, in the midst of a press conference, Roosevelt picked up a memorandum and said evenly, “There was one thing more.”
According to the magazine, the reporters in the room held their breath, bracing for what sounded like the prelude to a national emergency. Instead, Roosevelt told them that although 1941’s date couldn’t be changed, Thanksgiving would be restored to its traditional last Thursday slot beginning in 1942.
Mark Sullivan, a celebrated pundit at the time, noted two things: Roosevelt admitted his first mistake in office, never mind that he ignored the failures of some of his New Deal experiments, and the expected retail bonanza that merchants and Roosevelt expected never materialized.
RGGI WAS NEVER A GOOD FIT FOR PENNSYLVANIA
To appreciate why Roosevelt thought the change made sense, it helps to recall the context. The nation was still technically in the decadelong Great Depression, and recovery was sluggish. Christmas shopping did not begin before Thanksgiving, and all purchases were made in brick-and-mortar stores — department stores, five-and-dime stores, variety shops, and general stores. With no online shopping or early holiday season, a shortened shopping window had real consequences. Thus, when the general manager of the Retail Dry Goods Association wrote to former Commerce Secretary Harry Hopkins to warn that a late Thanksgiving would depress retail sales, the concern was not merely about profit.
In the end, “Franksgiving” proved that tinkering with tradition carries real consequences, and even Roosevelt learned that some American customs are too deeply rooted to be moved.