In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving from Nov. 30 to Nov. 23, and the country split over which date to keep. According to the encyclopedia’s account, 23 states and the District of Columbia followed the new date, while 22 states held to Nov. 30.
The holiday was nicknamed “Franksgiving,” and the argument over the calendar lasted until Congress settled it with a law Roosevelt signed on Dec. 26, 1941. That law is the reason Thanksgiving falls on the fourth Thursday today.
Why the date moved
Thanksgiving had been observed on the last Thursday of November since Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 proclamation, according to the National Archives. In 1939, the last Thursday fell on Nov. 30, the final day of the month.
That left fewer days for Christmas shopping at a time when the country was still working its way out of the Great Depression. The encyclopedia’s entry on Franksgiving says Fred Lazarus Jr., head of Federated Department Stores, urged moving the holiday a week earlier. Roosevelt announced the change in August 1939, and the National Archives says his goal was to lengthen the shopping season and support economic recovery.
The formal proclamation came on Oct. 31, 1939. The text of Proclamation 2373 set Thursday, Nov. 23, 1939, as “a day of general thanksgiving,” and it cited the nation’s progress through the Depression and its peace with other countries.
People who like to trace odd bits of American history may enjoy a collection of stories from history people keep getting wrong, which covers similar ground.
The country splits over two dates
The change did not land quietly. The entry on Franksgiving says Charles D. White, the mayor of Atlantic City, coined the nickname that year, and Alf Landon, Roosevelt’s 1936 Republican opponent, called the move impulsive and poorly planned. New England, a Republican stronghold, was among the most vocal regions.
A late 1939 Gallup poll found Americans opposed the change 62 percent to 38 percent. Democrats favored it 52 percent to 48 percent, while Republicans opposed it 79 percent to 21 percent.
The states did not agree either. Here is how the 1939 split looked, according to the entry:
- 23 states and the District of Columbia observed Nov. 23.
- 22 states kept Nov. 30.
- Colorado, Mississippi and Texas observed both dates.
The split meant some families celebrated a week apart from relatives in a neighboring state. A roundup of strange Thanksgiving traditions shows how many odd habits attach to the holiday, and the 1939 calendar fight might top the list.
Football, shopping and the table
The confusion reached beyond the dinner table. College football rivalry games scheduled for Nov. 30 were disrupted, and some conferences limited games to the Saturday after Thanksgiving, according to the encyclopedia. Large retailers hoped to profit from the longer season, while smaller businesses worried that customers would drift to the big stores.
A list of odd American traditions puts the muddle in company with other quirks. Radio comedians used it for jokes, and a 1940 Merrie Melodies cartoon showed two Thanksgiving dates, one “for Democrats” and one “for Republicans,” the entry notes.
The turkey, of course, was less concerned with politics. A modern list of Thanksgiving table classics gives a sense of what families were cooking regardless of which Thursday they picked, and a look at Thanksgiving traditions from the 1950s that have faded shows how the day has kept changing since.
Two more years of two Thanksgivings
Roosevelt kept the earlier date in the following years. In 1940, 32 states and the District of Columbia observed Nov. 21, while 16 states held what critics called the “Republican” Thanksgiving on Nov. 28, according to the entry. In 1941, 32 states and the District of Columbia observed Nov. 20 and the other 16 observed Nov. 27.
The National Archives gives the same overall picture, saying 32 states followed Roosevelt’s change while 16 kept the last Thursday, so for two years two Thanksgivings were observed. A 1941 Commerce Department survey, the entry says, found no significant boost to retail sales.
How the fourth Thursday became law
By 1941, Congress had grown tired of the back-and-forth. The National Archives says the House passed a resolution on Oct. 6 to make the last Thursday in November the legal holiday. The Senate amended it to say the fourth Thursday, so the date would stay consistent in months with five Thursdays, and the House agreed.
Roosevelt signed the resolution on Dec. 26, 1941, making “the fourth Thursday in November” the federal Thanksgiving holiday for the first time, according to the encyclopedia’s Thanksgiving entry. The change took effect in 1942, and Thanksgiving would from then on fall between Nov. 22 and Nov. 28.
Most states quickly aligned their own laws with the federal date, though some held out. In 1944, the first five-Thursday November after the change, eight states still observed the holiday on the 23rd, including Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Nebraska, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. Texas was the last state to switch, with its final observance on the last Thursday in 1956.
What the story says about the holiday
The History channel’s overview of Thanksgiving traces the holiday back to Sarah Josepha Hale, a magazine editor who campaigned for a national day from 1827 and earned the nickname “Mother of Thanksgiving,” and to Lincoln’s Oct. 3, 1863, proclamation. That late November date held until 1939, with one exception in 1865, according to History.com.
In 2026, the holiday falls on Nov. 26, the fourth Thursday, and also the last. The 1939 episode remains a reminder that even a holiday as settled as Thanksgiving once had a date that depended on the year and the state.
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
Image: National Archives – Public domain/Wikimedia Commons
