How Cincinnati changed the date of Thanksgiving

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In 1939, the nation celebrated two Thanksgivings, thanks to Cincinnati

Holiday shoppers lined up outside Mabley & Carew in Carew

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Tower the day after Thanksgiving 1946. A few Cincinnatians were instrumental in getting Thanksgiving moved back to allow for more Christmas shopping days.

A while back, we had a story about a few Cincinnatians who had a hand in moving Thanksgiving to the fourth Thursday of November rather than the last Thursday. Did you know that wasn't always the date? Well, it was quite a while ago – back in 1939.

Since that story ran, more resources have become available, prompting a revisit of the topic just in time for the holiday this week.

We thought it would be fun to look back at that story, this time augmented with new information [in brackets] that rounds out more of the story. Think of this as “Moving Thanksgiving: The Annotated Version.”

So, here we go, from Nov. 18, 2012 [updated]:

Lazarus to thank for Thanksgiving date
We celebrate Thanksgiving this week thanks to Fred Lazarus Jr., head of Federated Department Stores, who lobbied President Franklin D. Roosevelt to change the date to lengthen the Christmas shopping season.

[A few other people were heavily involved as well, which we’ll get into soon.]

The Lazarus family was noted for retail innovations. His grandfather, Simon Lazarus, started the clothing store in Columbus in 1851. [He was also the rabbi of Temple Israel in Columbus, serving without pay. Simon’s sons, Fred Lazarus Sr. and Ralph Lazarus, took over the business and were the ones doing the real innovating.]

They pioneered retail practices of “one low price” with no haggling, and grouping merchandise by size instead of price.

After Fred Lazarus Jr. took over the F. & R. Lazarus Co., he acquired Shillito’s of Cincinnati in 1928. [Shillito’s had been the Queen City’s oldest department store, founded in 1830, with the sizable emporium at Seventh and Race streets, built in 1878. But sales had dropped, and Lazarus was able to slip into the Cincinnati market.]

Fred L. Lazarus Jr., chairman and CEO of Federated Department Stores, proposed the idea in 1939 to move Thankgiving back to allow for more holiday shopping days.
The next year, he formed Federated Department Stores, serving as president, and later moved its headquarters to Cincinnati.

[Federated was a holding company that included F. & R. Lazarus Co. and its subsidiary Shillito’s, Filene’s of Boston and Abraham & Straus of New York, with Bloomingdale’s joining in 1930. Federated is still around as Macy’s Inc.

Lazarus moved the Federated headquarters to Cincinnati in 1945 (a bit later than the events leading to the change in Thanksgiving), and through many mergers and acquisitions, the company remained here until Macy’s moved its headquarters out of the city in 2020.

It should also be noted that the Lazarus family went on to have a tremendous presence in Cincinnati, from Irma Lazarus’ advocacy of the arts to the introduction of the Lazarus lizards.]

The Enquirer had a role in changing Thanksgiving
In 1939, in the midst of the Depression, Lazarus looked ahead at the calendar and noticed Thanksgiving would fall on Nov. 30 that year, leaving only 24 shopping days until Christmas.

[Lazarus was interviewed in the July 1966 issue of Nation’s Business magazine and was asked about his role in persuading President Roosevelt to change the Thanksgiving date. The following quotes come from that interview.]

The enterprising retailer enlisted George Sheridan, director of the Ohio Council of Retail Merchants, to work out the pros and cons of moving the holiday up a week.

[Lazarus said, “So I came down to Cincinnati – I was president then of the Ohio Council of Retail Merchants – and we had a chap there who was very able, George Sheridan. I said to him, ‘George, I think we ought to try to get Thanksgiving set permanently for the fourth Thursday of the month, not the last.’ ”]

Lazarus asked Enquirer publisher William F. Wiley to share the expenses of sending Sheridan to Washington in exchange for an exclusive story.

[Lazarus: “At a dinner here in Cincinnati I saw Bill Wiley, publisher of The Cincinnati Enquirer.

“I said, ‘How would you like to have half interest in changing Thanksgiving to the fourth Thursday in November? It will increase your advertising, and it will do the whole economy a great deal of good.’

“He said, ‘I’d be delighted – if it isn’t too expensive.’”

W.F. Wiley had become general manager of The Enquirer in 1918, then was made publisher in 1936, a position he held until his death in 1944. The newspaper was still owned by the John R. McLean family, but there was no question who was in charge. The Enquirer weathered two world wars during his time, and Wiley oversaw the construction of the Cincinnati Enquirer Building at 617 Vine St., completed in 1928.]

Roosevelt was convinced but forgot The Enquirer’s scoop.

[Wiley may have been banking on a scoop, as the Cincinnati Post claimed in a 1974 article, but Lazarus had a different take.

Lazarus: “We said [to Roosevelt]: ‘Well, now, that’s grand, but let us have a week at least before you break the news. We might just as well get a favorable reaction from all the editors and not have them call you any names about it, and give you full credit for what you are doing.’ Well, President Roosevelt didn’t.”

Roosevelt broke the news on Aug. 14. 1939, at his summer cottage in Campobello, New Brunswick, without warning Lazarus or the others.

Lazarus said he spent all night calling up newspaper editors to get them on board. The merchants approved of the change. “It’s a good thing so far as retailers are concerned,” said John C. Pogue, president of Pogue’s department store. “For some reason people just won’t start Christmas shopping until Thanksgiving is over. This will give us added time for Christmas selling.”]

Thanksgiving was the only holiday not set by federal law. The date had been announced by presidential proclamation since George Washington declared Thursday, Nov. 26, 1789, “a Day of Publick Thanksgiving and Prayer” for the new nation.

Later celebrations were irregular, and varied by state. In 1863, to create unity at a time of discord during the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln set Thanksgiving as the last Thursday in November. [The proclamation also effectively made Thanksgiving a national holiday. This move was suggested by Sarah Josepha Hale, the poet who wrote “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” who had been campaigning for years for the cause and had written directly to Lincoln.]

That tradition lasted 75 years, until Roosevelt’s 1939 proclamation moved Thanksgiving one week earlier. The reason, he claimed, was so holidays would be more evenly spaced out, with no mention of the retailer influence.

Two Thanksgivings
Not everyone was happy. Complaints poured in from small retailers. Calendars had already been printed. [Cincinnati Mayor James G. Stewart, a Republican, quipped, “Let’s hope President Roosevelt will not change the date of Christmas or the Fourth of July.”] The Thanksgiving football game was on the wrong day.

[Lazarus: “My older brother, Simon, was a great football fan, and I had forgotten to discuss this with him. About a week after the announcement, he said to me, ‘What damn fool ever thought about this kind of thing and balled up every football game in the country?’ ”]

Sixteen states refused to change, and for the next two holidays, the nation split, celebrating two Thanksgivings.

[School children in Kenton County rejoiced to celebrate Thanksgiving twice – on Nov. 23, known in Kentucky as “Roosevelt’s Thanksgiving Day,” as well as on Nov. 30 that year.

In 1940, Roosevelt proclaimed Thanksgiving even earlier, on Nov. 21, the third Thursday. People had had enough of this two Thanksgivings business, and the president seemed ready to relent. Then ...]

Finally, in 1941, Congress stepped in and set the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving, so it would never be later than Nov. 28, giving plenty of time for retailers to boost their Christmas sales.

Additional sources: Enquirer and Cincinnati Post archives