Florida Asks Which Thanksgiving Belongs on the Calendar

October 6, 1939 — An attorney general's letter to Governor Fred P. Cone exposed the confusion caused by competing Thanksgiving dates.

By Wm. E. McMullen II

A Holiday with Two Dates

On October 6, 1939, Florida Attorney General George Couper Gibbs wrote Governor Fred P. Cone about an unusual problem: which Thanksgiving would count as the state's legal holiday? The letter survives in the State Archives of Florida and is available through Florida Memory.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt intended Thanksgiving to fall on November 23. Cone intended to retain November 30. Banks wanted to know whether Florida would recognize one legal holiday or both. A familiar family celebration had become an administrative puzzle.

Shopping Time and Tradition

The National Archives explains the national reason for the change. November's last Thursday fell on the final day of the month in 1939. Roosevelt wanted an additional week between Thanksgiving and Christmas to support retail business and economic recovery.

States did not respond uniformly. Some followed the president, while others kept the traditional date. Florida Memory records Cone's decision to keep November 30 and the mixture of support, criticism and confusion that followed.

What the Letter Actually Says

Gibbs considered Florida's holiday statute and concluded that the president's designated day was the legal holiday. His conclusion did not mean Cone had adopted the new date. The archive's account and the letter preserve two different things: the governor's preference and the attorney general's interpretation.

That distinction is the heart of the October 6 story. A document can show a disagreement inside government without proving that every school, business or family celebrated on the same day.

A National Calendar Settles Down

The dispute continued beyond 1939. Congress eventually settled on the fourth Thursday in November, and Roosevelt signed the resolution on December 26, 1941. The fourth Thursday and the last Thursday are not always the same, because some Novembers contain five Thursdays.

Florida's surviving correspondence turns a national controversy into a local story about banks, official decisions and everyday scheduling. It also shows why historical dates deserve careful reading: even the date printed on a holiday calendar was once something Americans argued about.

Sources for Additional Reading

• Florida Memory — Gibbs's October 6, 1939 Letter
• National Archives — Congress Establishes Thanksgiving