History of Thanksgiving Part 2

At the turn of the century, retailers were using Thanksgiving to get a jump start on Christmas sales. Newspapers would count down number of shopping days until Christmas and, in 1921, Gimbel's held the first Thanksgiving Day parade to kick off the shopping season. In 1939 however, trouble arose. Thanksgiving was the last Thursday of the month and though that was usually the fourth Thursday, in 1939 it was the fifth. That meant only 20 shopping days until Christmas! So, still trying to dig themselves out the Depression, the National Retail Dry Goods Association asked PresidentFranklin Roosevelt to move Thanksgiving back one Thursday, saying it would boost sales. He agreed and announced the change. Political debates abound and since his change was only binding with federal employees and in DC, govenors of individual states had to ratify the decision for it to apply [to their own states]. In the end, 23 states celebrated Thanksgiving on November 23 and another 23 celebrated on November 30. Texas and Colorado celebrated both days and Minneapolis celebrated from November 23-November 30. However, retail sales did not go up as predicted. In fact, some retailers believed all the confusion caused the sales to drop. Fearing future presidents might do something similar, several congressmen introduced legislation to make the change (making the fourth Thursday in November Thanksgiving) permanent. So, Roosevelt signed the compromise and Thanksgiving has been celebrated on the fourth Thusday in November ever since!

I hope you've enjoyed this look at the history of Thanksgiving. In upcoming weeks we'll be looking at ways to enjoy a relatively stress free Thanksgiving, traditions, and recipes!

Thanks again to Uncle John!