Franksgiving
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Franksgiving is a term referring to the early celebration of the American Thanksgiving holiday from 1939—1941.
In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving forward by one week, believing that doing so would help bolster retail sales in the midst of the Great Depression. This led to much upheaval and protest, causing some to deride the holiday as Franksgiving. The word, coined by Atlantic City mayor Thomas Taggart, is a portmanteau of Franklin and Thanksgiving.
[edit] 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 possibly have an adverse effect on sales. In a custom starting in 1863, the President had declared Thanksgiving to be on the last Thursday in November, and this would fall on November 30 in 1939. In 1939, President Roosevelt decided to alter this custom 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 (then a Republican stronghold relative to the rest of the nation).
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, the last day in November, and some athletic 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 or not at all. 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 it 79% to 21%. 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; each state government had the final say with regards to the date of Thanksgiving. Twenty-three states went along with Roosevelt's recommendation, and twenty-two did not. The three other states – Colorado, Mississippi, and Texas – 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 due to the change. "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. After that new law took effect, 1944 was the first year with 5 Thursdays in November.
The majority of states immediately 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 had not changed their laws and still observed the last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving in 1944. Texas was the last state to change its law, observing the last Thursday Thanksgiving for the final time in 1956.
[edit] In media
In the 1940 Warner Brothers cartoon Holiday Highlights, directed by Tex Avery, the introduction to a segment about Thanksgiving shows the holiday falling on two different dates, one "for Democrats" and one a week later "for Republicans."
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.
