DID YOU KNOW?

DID YOU KNOW? There were TWO Thanksgivings in 1939! An uproar swept the United States in 1939, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt tried to move the holiday's date. States split on whether to abide by his decree, and for three years, many celebrated the holiday on separate dates — with FDR's new chosen date being derisively dubbed "Franksgiving" by Republicans. Partisanship: sound familiar? 

At the end of 1941, Congress passed, and Roosevelt signed, a joint resolution setting Thanksgiving as not the final but the fourth Thursday in November. Essentially, that means that Thanksgiving will fall between November 22 and 28 — never on the month's last two days. The new law struck a sensible balance between the business interests of retailers and Americans' beliefs that Thanksgiving shouldn't be too early, and it has lasted ever since.

Happy "Franksgiving", everyone!

More on "Franksgiving" via VOX.com at http://bit.ly/1vodGEk.

#history #1930s #Thanksgiving #Franksgiving #FDR