Tales from the Past: "Franksgiving"

Throughout the nineteenth and early 20th century, Thanksgiving Day was celebrated on the last Thursday of November. Then came the Great Depression. Businesses were still hurting in 1939 when Thanksgiving would fall on November 30, and business owners hoped moving the date up a week would stimulate Christmas shopping and keep their companies in the black. President Franklin D. Roosevelt agreed, and so "Franksgiving" was born. Let's say...it didn't go over very well.

• FDR's "Franksgiving Debacle"

• When FDR Moved Thanksgiving: The Presidential Power Grab That Tore a Nation Apart

• The "Franksgiving" Scandal 

• POLITICO: "Franksgiving": The Time FDR Moved Thanksgiving Up a Week 

• The Unintended Consequences of "Franksgiving"

• Happy "Franksgiving"! 

The image comes from the film Holiday Inn; even films and theatrical shorts mercilessly drubbed this date change.

In 1941, Thanksgiving was officially designated as falling on the fourth Thursday of November.