parent nodes: Franksgiving | Thanksgiving
In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the Thanksgiving holiday one week earlier than normal, believing that doing so would help bolster retail sales during one of the final years of the Great Depression. This led to much upheaval and protest, causing some to deride the holiday as Franksgiving. The term Franksgiving, a portmanteau of Franklin and Thanksgiving, was coined by Atlantic City mayor Charles D. White in 1939. In 1941, Congress compromised by fixing Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November.
History
In August 1939, Lew Hahn, general manager of the Retail Dry Goods Association, warned Secretary of Commerce Harry Hopkins that the late calendar date of Thanksgiving would possible have an adverse effect of sales. As was custom, the President had to declare Thanksgiving to be occurring on a certain date every year, usually the last Thursday in November. President Roosevelt decided, in 1939, to buck this trend and declare the second to last Thursday as Thanksgiving.
The declaration was immediately challenged by people of all affiliations. Alf Landon, Roosevelt's Republican challenger in the 1936 election, called the declaration "another illustration of the confusion which (Roosevelt's) impulsiveness has caused so frequently during his administration. If the change has any merit at all, more time should have been taken working it out... instead of springing it upon an unprepared country with the omnipotence of a Hitler." James Frasier, the chairman of the selectmen of Plymouth, Massachusetts, where the Pilgrims first celebrated the holiday, "heartily disapproved," as did most of New England.
The short-notice change in dates affected the holiday plans of millions of Americans. For example, many college football teams ended their seasons with rivalry games on Thanksgiving. Some conferences had rules banning any games after the Saturday following the holiday. If the date were changed, many of these teams would play their games for empty stadiums. College registrars, schedulers, and calendar makers were also up in arms about the change.
A Gallup poll discovered that Democrats favored the switch 52% to 48% while Republicans opposed 21% to 79%. Overall, Americans opposed the change 62% to 38%. On August 31, Roosevelt announced that he would change the date of Thanksgiving in 1940 as well.
Roosevelt officially declared the shift in his official proclamation on 1939-10-31. However, Roosevelt's declaration was not mandatory; twenty-three states went along with this recommendation, and 22 did not. Other states, like Texas, Colorado, and Mississippi, could not decide and took both weeks as government holidays.
In 1940, 32 states observed the earlier date and 16 chose the "Republican" Thanksgiving. On 1941-05-20, a Commerce Department survey found no significant expansion of retail sales from the earlier date. Franksgiving was celebrated one last time in 1941. On 1941-11-26, Roosevelt signed a law making Thanksgiving the fourth Thursday of November. The first Thanksgiving under the new law was celebrated in 1942, and the law is still in effect today.
The majority of states changed their laws to coincide with the nationally observed date. In 1944, 1945, 1950, and 1956, November had five Thursdays. Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Nebraska, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia still observed the last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving in 1945. Texas was the last state to change its law, observing the last Thursday Thanksgiving for the final time in 1956.
In media
Franksgiving is parodied in the 1942 film, Holiday Inn. In the film, a November calendar appears on which an animated turkey jumps back and forth between the two weeks, until he gives up and shrugs his shoulders at the audience.