Blog: FDR

Contrary to popular belief, the Pilgrims did not initiate the annual celebration of Thanksgiving in November. That was Abraham Lincoln, who began the annual Day of Thanksgiving in 1863 (previously, days of Thanksgiving were proclaimed occasionally by Presidents without schedule). Lincoln's Thanksgiving was the last Thursday of November, and remained so until 1939, when President Roosevelt moved it one week earlier, to lengthen the Christmas shopping season in hopes of stimulating the Depression economy.

Democrats (narrowly) supported the change, while Republicans opposed it. As the actual decision was up to the states, some states went along, and some did not. According to Wikipedia, "In the 1940 Warner Brothers cartoon Holiday Highlights, directed by Tex Avery, the introduction to a segment about Thanksgiving shows the holiday falling on two different dates, one 'for Democrats' and one a week later 'for Republicans.'" A compromise in 1941 set the date as the fourth Thursday in November, which is sometimes the last Thursday, and sometimes the second to last.

This year, November has five Thursdays, making Thanksgiving the second to last Thursday. In other words, this year we are celebrating the Democratic Thanksgiving - a fitting conclusion to a very Democratic month.

I've been in DC quite a few times in recent years, but haven't been to the great monuments on the National Mall since I was very young. Back then there was the Washington Monument and the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was relatively new. Today, there are many more. And most inspiring of all was the FDR Memorial. Filled with quotations from President Roosevelt's speeches, almost every one of his words seems to speak from the grave, bearing directly upon today nearly as saliently as they did over fifty years ago.

"I have seen war. I have seen war on land and sea. I have seen blood running from the wounded. I have seen the dead in the mud. I have seen cities destroyed. I have seen children starving. I have seen the agony of mothers and wives. I hate war." - FDR, Chautauqua NY, August 14, 1936

"From a marketing point of view, you don't introduce new products in August." - White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, on the timing of the Iraq war, September 2002