Posted by Daniel McCarthy on 11/25/09 11:20 AM   [Newer: How Broke Are Our Banks?] [Older: Lessons from Steve Bierfeldt]

Was any facet of Americans lives' too sacred for Franklin Delano Roosevelt to tamper with? Bill Kauffman reminds us that FDR even messed with the date of Thanksgiving in an attempt to truckle to retail interests:

It seems that in 1939 Thanksgiving was to fall on November 30th, a matter of consternation to the big merchants of the National Retail Dry Goods Association (NRDGA). The presidents of Gimbel Brothers, Lord & Taylor, and other unsentimental vendors petitioned President Roosevelt to move Thanksgiving to the previous Thursday, November 23, thus creating an additional week of Christmas shopping—and to the astonishment of those Americans without dollar signs in their eyes, the President did so. (Not all merchants favored the shift. One Kokomo shopkeeper hung a sign in his window reading, “Do your shopping now. Who knows, tomorrow may be Christmas.”)

... This New Deal experiment in Gimbelism lasted two more years, until finally the NRDGA admitted that there was little difference in retail sales figures between the states that celebrated Thanksgiving early and those that clung to the traditional date. Without fanfare, President Roosevelt returned Thanksgiving 1942 to the last Thursday in November. Mark Sullivan remarked that this was the only New Deal initiative FDR ever renounced.

Just as Roosevelt’s megalomaniacal refusal to observe the two-term tradition set by George Washington necessitated the 22nd Amendment, so did his flouting of Thanksgiving precedent require corrective legislation. In a compromise of sorts, FDR signed into law a bill fixing Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday—not the last Thursday—in November. Never again would Thanksgiving fall on November 29th or 30th. The states followed suit, although Texas held out until 1956.

Read Bill's whole column here. (And if you haven't yet picked up his recent books Aint My America: The Long Noble History of Antiwar Conservatism and Middle-American Anti-Imperialism and Forgotten Founder, Drunken Prophet: The Life of Luther Martin, they're well worth asking Santa about.)

Posted 11/25/09 12:22 PM larry101 New York, NY

Was any facet of Americans lives' too sacred for George W. Bush to tamper with? The Cato Institute reminds us that GWB even messed with the first amendment of the Constitution: "President Bush’s decision to sign the McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill is as clear an example of willful violation of the constitutional oath of office as one is likely to find with this president or any other. That is because Bush first publicly acknowledged his constitutional duty to veto the proposed legislation because it violated the First Amendment—and then proceeded to sign it anyway." http://www.cato.org/pubs/wtpapers/powersurge_healy_lynch.pdf

Posted 11/25/09 2:07 PM BruceKoerber Cedar Rapids, IA

FDR - Future Dictator's Representative

Posted 11/25/09 6:50 PM Glenn Cumming, GA

Daniel McCarthy, thanks for posting this article. The first time I heard of Bill Kaufmann was in an interview he did with Thomas Woods on an internet radio show called Shock to the System. Then I got to see him at the R4TR in Minneapolis last year. Great speech. In my opinion, he captures the heart and soul of the message of freedom. Good one, Bruce.

Posted 11/26/09 10:13 PM GrandsonofLIBERTY Elba, NY

Glenn - I agree his speech at R4TR was straight from the heart. He spoke of a free and peaceful America, something we need to become again.

Posted 11/26/09 10:16 PM GrandsonofLIBERTY Elba, NY

If anyone is interested he posts articles at www.frontporchrepublic.com.