In 1863, during the American Civil War (1861-1865), President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November Thanksgiving Day in order to bolster the Union’s morale.
In 1939 U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt shifted the day of Thanksgiving from the last Thursday in November to one week earlier. Retail merchants had petitioned the president to make the change to allow for an extra week of shopping between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Many Americans objected to the change in their holiday customs and continued to celebrate Thanksgiving on the last Thursday of the month. Roosevelt’s political opponents in Congress also opposed the break with tradition and dubbed the early holiday “Franksgiving.” In May 1941 Roosevelt admitted that he had made a mistake and signed a bill that established the fourth Thursday of November as the national Thanksgiving holiday, which it has been ever since.
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The first national annual Thanksgiving of 1863 was not officially observed by the United States military. Providing a special Thanksgiving dinner for the troops was beyond the capabilities of the Commissary.
Thanksgiving 1864 did not go similarly unrecognized. The Union League Club of New York City launched a public campaign to provide Thanksgiving dinner for Union soldiers and sailors.
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