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.
On Oct. 3, 1863, while expressing gratitude for a pivotal Union Army victory at Gettysburg, President Abraham Lincoln announced that the nation will celebrate an official Thanksgiving holiday on November 26, 1863. The speech, written by Secretary of State William Seward, declared that the fourth Thursday of every November thereafter would be considered an official U.S. holiday of Thanksgiving. This announcement harkened back to when George Washington was in his first term as the first president in 1789, and had called for an official celebratory “day of public thanksgiving and prayer.” While Congress overwhelmingly agreed to Washington’s suggestion, the holiday did not yet become an annual event. President Thomas Jefferson felt that public demonstrations of piety to a higher power were inappropriate in a nation based in part on the separation of church and state, and subsequent presidents agreed with him. In fact, no official Thanksgiving proclamation was issued by any president between 1815 and the day Lincoln took the opportunity to thank the Union Army, and God for a shift in the country’s fortunes on this day in 1863. Thanksgiving was temporarily moved to the third Thursday in November by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939, in an attempt to boost the economy between the holiday and Christmas. But Congress insisted it be moved back a week and in 1941 Roosevelt agreed.
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