Franksgiving

__NOTOC__Franksgiving is a portmanteau of Franklin and Thanksgiving coined by Atlantic City mayor Thomas Taggart to describe the American Thanksgiving holiday from 1939–1941.

In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving forward by one week, believing that doing so would help bolster retail sales in the midst of the Great Depression. This led to much upheaval and protest, causing some to deride the holiday as "Franksgiving".

History

In August 1939, Lew Hahn, general manager of the Retail Dry Goods Association, warned Secretary of Commerce Harry Hopkins that the late calendar date of Thanksgiving that year (November 30) could possibly have an adverse effect on retail sales. In keeping with a custom begun by Lincoln in 1863, U. S. Presidents had declared a general day of thanksgiving to be observed on the last Thursday in November. By late October of that year, President Roosevelt decided to deviate from this custom and declare November 23, the second-to-last Thursday, as Thanksgiving that year. [http://www.pilgrimhall.org/ThanxProc1930.htm 1930-39 Presidential Thanksgiving Proclamations] ]

The plan encountered immediate opposition. Alf Landon, Roosevelt's Republican challenger in the preceding election, called the declaration "another illustration of the confusion which [Roosevelt's] impulsiveness has caused so frequently during his administration. If the change has any merit at all, more time should have been taken working it out... instead of springing it upon an unprepared country with the omnipotence of a Hitler." While not all critics were political opponents of the president, most parts of New England (then a Republican stronghold relative to the rest of the nation) were among the most vocal areas. James Frasier, the chairman of the selectmen of Plymouth, Massachusetts, where the Pilgrims first celebrated the holiday, "heartily disapproved".

The short-notice change in dates affected the holiday plans of millions of Americans. For example, many college football routinely ended their seasons with rivalry games on Thanksgiving, and had scheduled them that year for the last day in November; and some athletic conferences had rules permitting games only through the Saturday following Thanksgiving. If the date were changed,by whom|date=October 2008 many of these teams would play their games for empty stadiums or not at all. The change also caused problems for college registrars, schedulers, and calendar makers.

A Gallup pollwhen|date=October 2008 discovered that Democrats favored the switch 52% to 48% while Republicans opposed it 79% to 21%. Overall, Americans opposed the change 62% to 38%.

After announcing August 31, 1939 that he would similarly designate November 21 of the "next" year, Roosevelt issued on October 31 his official proclamation calling for "a day of general thanksgiving" on November 23. Such declarations amount using the "moral authority" of the Presidency, and each state government can independently determine when to cancel work for state (and in some cases, municipal) employees. Twenty-three states recognized the non-traditional date, twenty-two November 30, and the remaining three – Colorado, Mississippi, and Texas – gave holidays in both weeks.

A year later, 32 states' governments observed the earlier date, 1940-11-21, and 16 chose what some were calling the "Republican" Thanksgiving on the 28th.

On 1941-05-20, a Commerce Department survey found no significant expansion of retail sales due to the change.fact|date=October 2008

In roughly two in seven last Thursdays of November are the fifth Thursday of that month; in 1939 and '40, the fourth (but second to last) Thursdays had been named in the presidential proclamations, in lieu of those years' fifth (and last) Thursdays. The third of the then non-traditional Thanksgivings remains unique. Specifically, the presidential proclamation of November 8 called for a 1941-11-20 observance, [http://www.pilgrimhall.org/ThanxProc1940.htm 1940-49 Presidential Thanksgiving Proclamations] ] on the third (and second to last) Thursday: every such holiday in the 20th century until 1939 had fit into that tradition; 1939 and '40, and each year from 1942 on matched a new (and as of 2008 still current) fourth-Thursday approach.

That new approach was embodied in a joint resolution of Congress on December 26, 1941 designating the fourth Thursday in November of each year as Thanksgiving Day. (Prior to that in the 20th century, the phrase "Thanksgiving Day" had been used in the prose of the presidential proclamation only in Calvin Coolidge's first, among his six.) In November 1942, Roosevelt's proclamation made mention of the joint resolution, and of the date it established as Thanksgiving Day, and called for observation "in prayer" of both it and the New Year's Day to follow.

The majority of states immediately changed their laws to coincide with the nationally observed date. The first year, following the joint resolution, with five Thursdays in November was 1944, and Thanksgiving was observed on the 23d of the month by 43 states Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Nebraska, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia were the exceptions. Also in 1945, 1950, and 1956, November had five Thursdays. Texas was the last state to change its law, observing the last-Thursday Thanksgiving for the final time in 1956.

In media

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."

The competing dates for Thanksgiving are parodied in the 1942 film "Holiday Inn". In the film, a November calendar appears on which an animated turkey jumps back and forth between the two weeks, until he gives up and shrugs his shoulders at the audience.

References

External links

* [http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/thanksg.html Letters, postcards, and telegrams received by Roosevelt concerning his decision]