1978: NOAA announces gender-neutral hurricane naming system
Federal News Network presents a daily update of important moments in the history of the U.S. government.
The tradition of celebrating the holiday on Thursday dates back to the early history of the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies, when post-harvest holidays were celebrated on the weekday regularly set aside as “Lecture Day,” a midweek church meeting where topical sermons were presented. Thanksgiving became an annual custom throughout New England in the 17th century, and in 1789, George Washington became the first president to proclaim a Thanksgiving holiday. At the request of Congress, he proclaimed Nov. 26, a Thursday, as a day of national thanksgiving for the U.S. Constitution. Then in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving to officially fall on the last Thursday of November. With a few deviations, Lincoln’s precedent was followed annually by every subsequent president until 1939. FDR departed from tradition for the next two years, to unpopular reception, but on Nov. 26, 1941, he conceded and signed a bill into law officially making the fourth Thursday in November the national holiday of Thanksgiving Day.
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