Op-ed:
Thanksgiving: Born of
Politics...Tempered By Tradition
By: Diane Sori / The Patriot Factor /
Right Side Patriots / Right Side Patriots Radio
Thanksgiving...a truly American holiday
at its core yet a holiday also celebrated in Canada, some Caribbean
Islands, Brazil, and in Liberia as well. Thanksgiving...now
predominately a secular holiday has its historical roots in both
religious and cultural traditions. And while President George
Washington proclaimed the first “national day of Thanksgiving”
in 1789, it was not officially celebrated annually until
President Abraham Lincoln, in an 1863 proclamation, designated the
last Thursday in November to be "a day of thanksgiving and
praise." And it remained so until 1939 when FDR moved
Thanksgiving to the second-to-last Thursday in November after
retailers balked that Thanksgiving would fall on November 30th that
year thus cutting the Christmas buying season short...modern day
political-style lobbying of sorts I'd say. More on the specifics of
this date change in a bit.
But how and why did Thanksgiving
actually become the holiday we celebrate today, how did it start, how
was it politicized, and why has it now morphed into a day when talk of
politics is frowned upon?
First, let's discuss some basics and start with the fact that
Thanksgiving is most surely based upon ancient pagan harvest festivals.
However,
we as Americans associate Thanksgiving more with the Pilgrims, who in
1621, sometime between September 21st and November 11th, were
joined by approximately ninety men from the local Wampanoag Iroquois
tribe,
including their Chief Massasoit, and together partook in a
three-day-feast. And today we equate the holiday as a day for families
to gather together to
“break bread”
as well as to thank God for his blessings and for the bountiful
Thanksgiving meal spread out before us.
But two things most people don't know is that first, the Pilgrims
themselves were not actually associated with Thanksgiving until the
19th century after
“Forefathers Day” became a holiday...a
holiday now long forgotten...when the Pilgrims became known as the
“face
of liberty,” if you will,
as well as their being the precursor of the Founding Fathers. And
second, the Pilgrims were not the first to celebrate a day of
thanksgiving, that honor should actually go to the Popham colony of
Maine, who celebrated the day of their arrival in America in 1607.
Now as to certain political aspects of Thanksgiving, know that
the politicizing of Thanksgiving goes all the way back to the days of
George Washington when his 1789 call for a national Thanksgiving to
give thanks for the opportunity to form a new nation and for the
establishment of a new constitution, did spark controversy amongst
those in Congress. How so? Simply, some members of Congress saw in
Washington's proposal an exercising of power that they believed
belonged solely to the individual states, while at the same time
other members of Congress felt that Washington's Thanksgiving
proposal actually violated the guarantee of a
“separation of
church and state”...paraphrasing
used by Thomas Jefferson and others in their expressing an
understanding of the intent and function of both the Establishment
Clause and the Free Exercise Clause of the First
Amendment...the very amendment which Congress had just debated.
Overlooked was the fact that in Washington's proclaiming
Thanksgiving as a
“national day of Thanksgiving,” he was
embracing people of all faiths not just those of one specific faith.
And while the Pilgrims did indeed come to our shores seeking
religious (and economic) freedom, on Thanksgiving Day 2021, Americans of all faiths
and Americans of no faith are free to give thanks or not...free to
feast together with family and friends or go about the day's business
as they so chose.
And while religious
“days of thanks” were long observed
in all of America's 13 colonies ever since the time of the Pilgrims, it
wasn't until October 1777 that all of said colonies celebrated a day
of Thanksgiving. And it actually was the after-church meals that had
become the norm by the beginning of the 18th century that led to what
became the holiday we know today as Thanksgiving. And that all began
when in 1846, the woman who became known as the
“Mother of Thanksgiving,” Sarah Josepha
Hale, author of the nursery rhyme
"Mary Had a Little Lamb,"
became the editor of
“Godey's Lady's Book,”
a popular magazine of her time. Using her position to seek grassroots support for her campaign for a
national day of Thanksgiving...a
“Great American Festival” she
called it...a campaign she hoped would become a unifying holiday that
would help avert a civil war.
And while Sarah Josepha Hale's wish did not come to fruition, in
1863, in the midst of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln asked
all Americans to set aside the last Thursday in November as a
"Day of Thanksgiving"...a day to unify a country divided. Saying in part,
“The
year that is drawing towards its close has been filled with the
blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies...No human counsel
hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things.
They are the gracious gifts of the Highest God...I do, therefore,
invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and
also those who are at sea, and those who are sojourning in foreign
lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as
a Day of Thanksgiving and a Prayer to our beneficent Father who
dwelleth in the heavens.”
And yet while today Thanksgiving has become a mostly secular
holiday, it's still a holiday that honors it's religious roots with politics, sadly, still
hovering overhead.
Now fast forward to 1939 and FDR's questionable decision to change
the date of Thanksgiving...a decision that did not sit well in many
individual statehouses nor with certain governors who felt FDR's
decision was an overstep of presidential authority. As I previously
stated, in 1939, the last Thursday of November was going to fall on
November 30th thus leaving retailers complaining to FDR that this
left but twenty-four shopping days to Christmas. The retailers then
requested, begged actually, the president to officially roll back
Thanksgiving one week after it had been determined that most people
do their Christmas shopping after Thanksgiving with the hope an extra
week of shopping would allow folks to purchase more.
And FDR caved and rolled back Thanksgiving one week which
immediately caused a lot of confusion with the result of said
decision being that half the country chose to celebrate Thanksgiving on one
day while the other half chose to so on another day. Also, already printed
calendars were now incorrect; school vacations and tests had to be
rescheduled; and Thanksgiving football schedules were all askew. And
it also saw political opponents of FDR...opponents like then Atlantic
City's Mayor Charles D, White who derogatorily called November 23rd
"Franksgiving”...rightfully
questioning the president's right to change the holiday by
focusing their ire on FDR's breaking of precedent and total disregard
for tradition just to appease businesses...just to appease retailers.
Simply, the power of the dollar won out over common sense and an
American tradition. And to make matters worse the economy saw no
boost in spending because of the date change. In fact, most businesses
reported that spending was approximately the same as before the date
change, but that the actual distribution of shopping had changed. How
so...in those states that did celebrate Thanksgiving on the earlier November 30th date
the shopping was evenly distributed throughout the season, but in
those states that kept the traditional last Thursday date, businesses saw most
shopping occurring in just the last week before the Christmas holiday.
In other words,
FDR's changing Thanksgiving's now traditional date was all for nought, leaving
Congress, on December 26, 1941, to pass a law declaring that
Thanksgiving would now fall on the fourth Thursday of every
November...as it has remained to this day.
And that brings us to more current times where partisan
politics colored Thanksgiving Day 2003...when good intentioned
gestures were turned into political fodder of the very worst
kind.
Remember back to November 27, 2003 when just a mere eight months after the
start of the Iraq War, when insurgent attacks on U.S. troops
were the norm, when then President George W. Bush in his rightful roll as
commander-in-chief, paid a surprise Thanksgiving visit to American
troops in Baghdad...an unannounced visit for obvious security reasons.
Sharing a meal with 600 members of the 1st Armored Division and
the 82nd Airborne Division stationed in a military mess hall at
Baghdad International Airport, Mr. Bush stayed for two and a half
hours. Jokingly saying while wearing an Army jacket that,
"I was just
looking for a warm meal somewhere," Bush became heartfelt with his words,
"I
can't think of a finer group of folks to have Thanksgiving dinner
with than you all," with our president then added that,
“You
are defending the American people from danger and we are grateful.
You are defeating the terrorists here in Iraq."
And the response from our troops
included many soldiers jumping
to their feet, pumping fists in the air, roaring with delight, and
grabbing their cameras to snap photographs. Pvt.
Patrick McFarland of the 1st Armored Division did sum it up best with
his words that, “It helps a lot knowing that the
commander in chief himself is going to come out here and make some of
the same sacrifices away from his family, away from his home, to show
that he is devoted and in the same position that we are."
And yet President Bush was slammed by the Democrats who claimed that his surprise
visit was for political show alone what with the 2004 election coming up.
And then there's President Donald Trump who in 2019 made a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Thanksgiving Day to address American troops in what was his first trip to the country. Landing in Afghanistan at 11:03 a.m. EST on Air Force One after a 13-hour
secret overnight flight out of an undisclosed airport in Florida, Trump visited troops at Bagram Air Field where he not only thanked the men and women for their service, calling them
"courageous American warriors," but he helped serve
Thanksgiving dinner to roughly two dozen troops at the Air Field’s
dining facility. Words felt and services rendered for those men and women President Trump truly loved and honored for he knew well that these are the folks who put their lives on the line every day to help keep us safe at home.
And yet he too was slammed by both the liberal media and the Democrats for putting on what they deemed to be but a political dog and pony show which is so far from the truth for President Trump rebuilt our military...our military that had been dishonored, defamed, and apologized for by his Democrat predecessor.
Like I said, shameful partisan politics
rearing its ugly head specifically on Thanksgiving Day...a day when
politics should truly always be frowned upon.
And yet he too was slammed by both the liberal media and the Democrats for putting on what they deemed to be but a political dog and pony show which is so far from the truth for President Trump rebuilt our military...our military that had been dishonored, defamed, and apologized for by his Democrat predecessor.
