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Thanksgiving: Thursdays
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Though various states claim to have hosted the first Thanksgiving, the annual celebratory custom was most firmly fixed in New England, as memorialized in a famous poem in a volume by Lydia Maria Child. By the beginning of the Civil War most northern and mid-western states, as well as many in the South had adopted this tradition. The holiday was vigorously promoted by the indefatigable editor of the influential mid- nineteenth-century magazine Godey's Lady's Book, Sarah Josepha Hale, who for years had spurred state action and, in this 1863 letter and editorial, helped persuade Abraham Lincoln to make it a national holiday to be celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November.
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In 1939, during the Great Depression, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt famously modified Lincoln's chosen date of the last Thursday of November to the second-to-last Thursday of November in order to extend the post-Thanksgiving, pre-Christmas shopping season. The move was met with confusion and criticism, and in 1942 FDR signed a law making Thanksgiving the fourth Thursday of November, a law which is still in effect today. See Franksgiving.
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Turkey Day Itineraries: Among those traveling for Thanksgiving, the greatest percentage (29 percent) will be departing for the holiday on Wednesday, November 22, tied with Thanksgiving Day on Thursday, November 23. The most popular days to return home are Sunday, November 26 (29 percent) followed by Saturday, November 25 (20 percent). Twelve percent plan to return on Thanksgiving Day, while 11 percent intend to return on Monday, November 27.
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Sarah Josepha Hale, a magazine editor, is responsible for getting Thanksgiving declared a national holiday. Hale wrote many editorials about the importance of giving thanks in her Boston Ladies' Magazine, and later, in Godey's Lady's Book. Finally, after a 40-year campaign of writing editorials and letters to governors and presidents, Hale's obsession became a reality when, in 1863, President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November as a national day of Thanksgiving.
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Keep It in the Day: The most common last-minute deals you'll find now are for travel on Thanksgiving Day, although some airlines will ... release deals for Monday and Tuesday travel. Turkey fares are especially great for people who don't mind traveling on Thursday, a great option if your family eats late in the day.
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In 1863, Abraham Lincoln set aside the last Thursday of November as a national Day of Thanksgiving. Congress permanently established the fourth Thursday of each November as a national holiday in the year 1941.
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