Saturday, November 30, 2019

Thanksgiving in World War 2

             In the first year of the war in 1939, it was an unusual time for the month of October. Only one month after the Germans had invaded Poland to signal the first reaction of the war from the French and British, a traditional holiday for the Americans was coming up, Thanksgiving. Ever since the years of Abraham Lincoln, Thanksgiving was held on the last Thursday of the month. However, this year's calendar was different as the month had started on a Wednesday causing there to be five Thursdays instead of four. To try to help the chaos of having a later Thanksgiving, Roosevelt decided to move Thanksgiving a week early to the second-to-last Thursday. Many were unhappy with this change and renamed the holiday to "Franksgiving". Some compared this action to a deed done by Hitler, but Roosevelt wanted to look away at the negatives. He justified his decision with a "pro-shopping response": families and merchants would now have more shopping time between Christmas while bolstering up sales to finalize the end of the Great Depression. Many argue that this change started the sparks for the big consumer craze known as Black Friday nearly 80 years ago. 

          Many of you may say that "Thanksgiving isn't on the second-to-last week, it's the last week!" which then I would respond saying that you're correct.  This change lasted for the next two years, where Roosevelt admitted that he made a mistake moving the sacred holiday. At the end of the 3rd year in 1941, he made a final permanent change signing a bill that made Thanksgiving Day fall on the fourth Thursday of November no matter if it was the last Thursday of the month or not. At the time, most nationwide holidays were celebrated regionally by state, so only a few states decided to take on Roosevelt's new proclamation. Many states were too focused on the war to worry about holidays, so the change wouldn't be seen nationally till after the war ended. 

        Over seas on the battlefields, the government tried their best to provide a traditional, sufficient, and hot thanksgiving meal for their soldiers. In 1943, they were able to send two ships fully stocked with thanksgiving food, like turkey, cranberry sauce, and pies. This day gave soldiers a scrumptious dinner they could look forward too. However, even with good meals, many missed the feeling of home. Back in the US, there became an issue with rations, having shortages of meats and butter. Things did not get any better for the next couple of years, but many were starting to get creative, saving ration stamps, and using different techniques to get the food they want and create the best meal. Funny enough, the people had trouble finding chicken and turkey even though it was not rationed because many of the birds were shipped over for the troops. Even in the past, Thanksgiving was all about coming together and being thankful for what they, even if families couldn't be together. The dinner table may look very different now, but the holiday's meaning has stayed the same.


 


2 comments:

  1. I found it intriguing how you mentioned that the change in date of Thanksgiving to the second to last Thursday potentially resulted in the creation of Black Friday. After I researched a little bit more, I found out that during the 1950s, many Americans would skip and call in sick to work the day following Thanksgiving to shop, which eventually made that day part of the holiday. The term "Black Friday" is thought to have originated from its appearance in print around 1966. This occurred when an advertisement appeared in The American Philatelist, where the Philadelphia Police Department used the name to describe the chaos within the many traffic jams and crowding in the downtown stores. In the present day, Black Friday is a huge event, and part of the holiday.

    https://www.thebalance.com/what-is-the-history-of-black-friday-3305711

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  2. It's very refreshing to hear more of a light hearted aspect of the war like the American holiday of thanksgiving! Also, I had no idea that the bad economy before/during world war 2 was the origin of modern day Black Friday. I thought this was a very interesting topic, and pretty relevant to our lives right now since Thanksgiving just passed, so I decided to do a little research on thanksgiving in the home front. As you said, there were shortages of meats and butter due to issues with rationing. I also found that even though poultry was never rationed in the U.S., there was a shortage of turkey on thanksgiving because most of the meat was sent to the military. But, turkey isn't the thing that makes thanksgiving spirit: It's the family and holiday traditions!

    http://www.sarahsundin.com/thanksgiving-in-world-war-ii/

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