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Show state, and you just had beans. T1830 New York became the first state to have an official Thanksgiving Day. Those who think the people of. New York had any more to be thankful for than’the people of, say, Pennsylvania, ‘are mistaken. They simply knew that many people who were getting ready to move out of New York might stay there if they were promised an extra holiday. In 1863, busy as he was with the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln issued a Thanksgiving Day proclamation setting aside the fourth Thursday of Novemberas “a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father.” Coming from Honest Abe, this had a lot of impact on people. If President Lincoln could give thanks, with all the trouble he had on his hands, they guessed they could, too. When Lincoln did the same thing again in 1864, two years in a row, it became a tradition. Thanksgiving was celebrated each year on the fourth Thursday -in November. Then in 1989 President Franklin D. Roosevelt took one of his most drastie actions. He proclaimed Thanksgiving Day to be celebrated one week earlier! His motives, he said, were humanitarian; hewished to give people time to eat up thelast of their Thanksgiving turkey before starting on their Christmas turkey: But this led to a clash between the turkey growers and the bicarbonate of soda makers and gave the Republicans a campaign issue. Finally.-Congress_ruled_that-after. 1941 the fourth-Thursday:of November would be observed as Thanksgiving-Day and would be-a legal holiday. Any other would be an illegal holi- day, The United States was about to enter World War Il; and Congress wanted to give the enemy a show of national unity. . As -we celebrate Thanksgiving Day, this year, let. us remember how it ‘was among our forefathers in Massachusetts. Or, even earlier, in Vir- ginia. Or, earlier still, before the colonists arrived at all. “Let us be thankful,” an Indian chief might. have proclaimed to his followers back in 1606, “that we still have the place to ourselves.” # - First thing in the morning and your breath will feel fresher for hours. Scopeis the new mouthwashdiscovery from Procter & Gamble. Scope is powerful. First thing in the morning and your breathwill feel. fresher for hours. Scope has a great taste, too. Remember, Once in the morning doesit. |