Abraham Lincoln is the president who made Thanksgiving a recurring national holiday by proclaiming a nationwide day of thanksgiving on the last Thursday of November in 1863.

Quick Scoop

  • Short answer:
    Abraham Lincoln established Thanksgiving as a yearly national holiday in 1863, during the Civil War.
  • But:
    Franklin D. Roosevelt later signed the law in 1941 that fixed the modern date as the fourth Thursday in November.

How Thanksgiving Became a Holiday

  • George Washington issued the first national Thanksgiving proclamation for November 26, 1789, making it a one-time national day of thanks under the new Constitution.
  • For decades afterward, presidents sometimes proclaimed days of thanksgiving, but the date and even the month could vary, so it was not yet a regularly scheduled national holiday.

Lincoln’s Big Step in 1863

  • In 1863, in the middle of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of Thanksgiving to be held annually on the last Thursday of November, effectively creating a consistent national Thanksgiving holiday.
  • This move built on public pressure (including campaigns by writer Sarah Josepha Hale) and helped frame Thanksgiving as a unifying moment for a divided nation.

Roosevelt and the Date We Use Now

  • Because the exact date still depended on presidential proclamations, Franklin D. Roosevelt experimented in 1939 by moving Thanksgiving earlier to extend the Christmas shopping season, which sparked controversy nicknamed “Franksgiving.”
  • To end the confusion, Congress passed, and Roosevelt signed, legislation in 1941 that officially set Thanksgiving as a federal holiday on the fourth Thursday in November, where it remains today.

TL;DR:

  • Washington: first national Thanksgiving day (1789, one-time).
  • Lincoln: made it an annual national holiday on the last Thursday of November (1863).
  • FDR + Congress: locked it into law on the fourth Thursday in November (1941).

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