You probably grew up hearing that the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag sat down in 1621, ate some turkey, and boom—Thanksgiving was born. Honestly, that's not really how it happened. While that harvest feast was real, it didn't magically become a national holiday that same year. In fact, it took over two centuries and a lot of political bickering to get a fixed date on your calendar.
If you’re looking for the short answer to which president made Thanksgiving, the man who finally turned it into a formal, annual national holiday was Abraham Lincoln.
But history is rarely that simple. Depending on how you define "made," you could argue for George Washington, or even Franklin D. Roosevelt. There's also a woman you've probably never heard of who basically bullied five different presidents until one of them finally said yes.
The First "Official" Try: George Washington
In 1789, the United States was a brand-new experiment. George Washington had just been inaugurated, and the country was trying to figure out its own identity. A congressman named Elias Boudinot suggested that the nation should have a day to thank God for the new Constitution.
Washington agreed. He issued a proclamation for a day of thanks on November 26, 1789.
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But here’s the thing: it wasn't a permanent holiday. It was a one-time deal. Washington didn't say, "Hey, let's do this every November forever." He just did it that once, and then again in 1795 to celebrate the end of the Whiskey Rebellion. After he left office, the whole idea kinda drifted away. Thomas Jefferson actually hated the idea; he thought a federal Thanksgiving violated the separation of church and state. He refused to issue any such proclamations during his entire presidency.
The Woman Who Wouldn't Give Up
While the men in Washington were arguing about politics, a woman named Sarah Josepha Hale was on a mission. You might know her for writing the nursery rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb," but her real legacy is the turkey on your table.
As the editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book, the most popular magazine in America at the time, Hale spent 36 years writing editorials and letters to every president from Zachary Taylor to Abraham Lincoln. She wanted a unified national holiday because, back then, every state celebrated on a different day, and some states (mostly in the South) didn't celebrate it at all. She believed a shared day of gratitude could help heal the growing divide between the North and South.
She was basically the original "influencer," and she used her platform to pressure the government relentlessly.
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Abraham Lincoln and the 1863 Pivot
By 1863, the United States was tearing itself apart in the Civil War. It was a dark, bloody year. Just a few months after the Battle of Gettysburg, Sarah Josepha Hale sent another letter, this time to Lincoln.
She argued that a national Thanksgiving could "permanently, an American custom and institution" that might bring a sense of peace to a fractured people. Lincoln, who was desperate for anything that might unify the Union, finally bit. On October 3, 1863, he issued the proclamation that officially set the last Thursday of November as a day of national Thanksgiving.
This is the moment Thanksgiving as we know it was truly "made." Lincoln's proclamation wasn't just a one-off; every president after him followed suit, and the tradition finally stuck.
FDR and the "Franksgiving" Chaos
Everything was fine for about 75 years until 1939. That year, November had five Thursdays. The last Thursday was November 30th.
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Retailers were panicking. They told President Franklin D. Roosevelt that if Thanksgiving was that late, there wouldn't be enough shopping days before Christmas. Remember, this was right after the Great Depression, and businesses were desperate for a boost.
So, FDR decided to move Thanksgiving up by one week.
People lost their minds. It was absolute chaos. Half the country ignored him and celebrated on the "traditional" last Thursday, while the other half followed the new date. People jokingly called the earlier date "Franksgiving." For two years, the U.S. was basically a house divided by turkey. Football coaches were livid because their big Thanksgiving games were ruined, and calendar makers had to trash thousands of printed pages. Eventually, Congress had to step in and play parent. In December 1941, they passed a law making the fourth Thursday of November the official, legal, federal holiday.
Timeline of Thanksgiving Evolution
| Year | Key Figure | Action Taken |
|---|---|---|
| 1789 | George Washington | Issued the first one-time national proclamation. |
| 1863 | Abraham Lincoln | Established it as an annual holiday on the last Thursday of Nov. |
| 1939 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Moved the date up a week to help retailers (the "Franksgiving" era). |
| 1941 | U.S. Congress | Officially codified the fourth Thursday of November by law. |
Actionable Takeaways for History Buffs
If you're looking to actually use this info—maybe to win a trivia night or just to sound smart at the dinner table—here are the points that actually matter:
- Credit the right person: If someone asks who started it, say Washington. If they ask who made it a national holiday, it's Lincoln. If they ask why the date is weird, blame FDR.
- Don't forget Sarah Josepha Hale: She is the "Mother of Thanksgiving." Without her persistent pestering of the White House, the holiday probably would have remained a regional New England tradition.
- Check the calendar: Remember that "fourth Thursday" and "last Thursday" aren't always the same thing. In years with five Thursdays in November, we celebrate on the fourth, thanks to the 1941 law.
Next time you're sitting down to eat, you can tell your family that your dinner date was essentially decided by a persistent magazine editor, a war-weary president, and a bunch of worried department store owners.