Thanksgiving is one of the most popular holidays in the United States, but formally establishing the day on which it is to be observed was difficult and fraught with controversy. By federal law, Americans have celebrated Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday in November since 1942, but numerous other dates were designated in the past.
It is believed that America’s first Thanksgiving, actually a harvest feast that brought together 53 Pilgrims and some 90 Native Americans, occurred in the fall of 1621. Beginning in 1668, the holiday was celebrated on November 25, but that lasted only a few years. In 1789 Pres. George Washington decreed Thursday, November 26, as a day of public thanksgiving, but, in the years that followed, the holiday bounced informally from month to month and date to date. The last Thursday in November became the norm in 1863 with a declaration by Pres. Abraham Lincoln.
In 1939 some Americans had the option of celebrating Thanksgiving on two different dates. Because that year had five Thursdays in November, retailers asked Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt to push the holiday back a week in order to give people more time for holiday shopping. Roosevelt agreed, but many saw the move as nothing but a money grab by retailers, and several governors declared that the holiday would be celebrated in their states on the traditional last Thursday. The battle was finally settled when Congress passed a law in December 1941 that made Thanksgiving the fourth Thursday of November.