Letter from Charles Arnold to FDR about Thanksgiving date change
8/15/1939
Add to Favorites:
Add all page(s) of this document to activity:
At the beginning of Franklin Roosevelt's presidency, Thanksgiving was not a fixed holiday; it was up to the President to issue a Thanksgiving Proclamation to announce what date the holiday would fall on. However, Thanksgiving was always the last Thursday in November because that was the day President Abraham Lincoln observed the holiday when he declared Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863. Franklin Roosevelt continued that tradition, but he soon found that tradition was difficult to keep in extreme circumstances such as the Great Depression. His first Thanksgiving in office, 1933, fell on November 30th, the last day of the month, because November had five Thursdays that year. Since statistics showed that most people did not do their Christmas shopping until after Thanksgiving, business leaders feared they would lose money, especially during the Depression, because there were only 24 shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas. They asked Franklin Roosevelt to make Thanksgiving one week earlier.
President Roosevelt ignored those concerns in 1933, but when Thanksgiving once again threatened to fall on the last day of November in 1939, FDR reconsidered the request and moved the date of Thanksgiving up one week. Thanksgiving 1939 would be held, President Roosevelt proclaimed, on November 23rd and not November 30th. Changing the date of Thanksgiving seemed harmless enough, but in actuality proved quite controversial.
It was so upsetting that thousands of letters, like this one from Charles Arnold, poured into the White House once President Roosevelt announced the date change. As opposition grew, some states took matters into their own hands and defied the Presidential Proclamation. Some governors declared November 30th as Thanksgiving. And so, depending upon where one lived, Thanksgiving was celebrated on the 23rd and the 30th.
Franklin Roosevelt observed Thanksgiving on the second to last Thursday of November for two more years, but the amount of public outrage prompted Congress to pass a law on December 26, 1941, ensuring that all Americans would celebrate a unified Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November every year.
President Roosevelt ignored those concerns in 1933, but when Thanksgiving once again threatened to fall on the last day of November in 1939, FDR reconsidered the request and moved the date of Thanksgiving up one week. Thanksgiving 1939 would be held, President Roosevelt proclaimed, on November 23rd and not November 30th. Changing the date of Thanksgiving seemed harmless enough, but in actuality proved quite controversial.
It was so upsetting that thousands of letters, like this one from Charles Arnold, poured into the White House once President Roosevelt announced the date change. As opposition grew, some states took matters into their own hands and defied the Presidential Proclamation. Some governors declared November 30th as Thanksgiving. And so, depending upon where one lived, Thanksgiving was celebrated on the 23rd and the 30th.
Franklin Roosevelt observed Thanksgiving on the second to last Thursday of November for two more years, but the amount of public outrage prompted Congress to pass a law on December 26, 1941, ensuring that all Americans would celebrate a unified Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November every year.
Transcript
ARNOLD'S MEN'S SHOP, INC.Brooklyn, N.Y.
August
15th
1939
President Franklin D. Roosevelt
White House
Washington, D.C.
Dear President Roosevelt:
Would like to give you the view point of the small merchant in regard to your change of the Thanksgiving date.
The small storekeeper would prefer leaving Thanksgiving Day where it belongs. If the large department stores are over-crowded during the shorter shopping period before Christmas, the overflow will come, naturally, to the neighborhood store.
Before writing, have consulted with my fellow directors of the Flatbush Chamber of Commerce, as well as my fellow trustees of the Kings Highway Board of Trade, and the executive council of the Associated Retailers of Greater New York, of which I am chairman.
We have waited many years for a late Thanksgiving to give us an advantage over the large stores, and we are sadly disappointed at your action, in this matter.
Kindly reconsider and oblige thousands of small retail storekeepers throughout this country.
Sincerely yours,
Charles A. Arnold
Arnold's Men's Shop Inc.
CAA:MLC
Written in behalf of over 500 Adam Hat Agents whose association I head. CAA
This primary source comes from the Collection FDR-FDRPOF: President's Official Files (Roosevelt Administration).
National Archives Identifier: 2777506
Full Citation: Letter from Charles Arnold to FDR about Thanksgiving date change; 8/15/1939; OF 54: Thanksgiving: Re: Change in Date: A - B 1939-1941; Franklin D. Roosevelt President's Official Files, 1933 - 1945; Collection FDR-FDRPOF: President's Official Files (Roosevelt Administration); Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/letter-charles-arnold-fdr-about-thanksgiving, April 24, 2025]Rights: Public Domain, Free of Known Copyright Restrictions. Learn more on our privacy and legal page.
