USA TODAY International Edition
Here’s how presidents give thanks
Prisoners got beer; turkeys got pardoned
Throughout American history, presidents have put their individual marks on the traditions of this American holiday slated as a time for eating turkey and giving thanks.
George Washington
According to the White House Historical Association, the first president named Thursday, Nov. 26, 1789, as a day of public thanksgiving after a recommendation from Congress.
According to the website of his estate, Mount Vernon, the president spent the day attending services at St. Paul’s Chapel in New York City, as well as donating beer and food to prisoners.
Washington’s move came more than a century after the so-called first Thanksgiving in 1621 at Plymouth, Mass., featuring the Pilgrims and members of the Native American Wampanoag tribe.
Several decades would pass without a national annual Thanksgiving holiday. States would issue holiday proclamations on their own.
Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln’s proclamation came in the middle of the Civil War, when his country was torn apart. Part of the reason for the declaration: a celebration of the Union’s victories. His proclamation came Oct. 3, 1863.
“It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People,” the proclamation read. “I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.”
According to the WHHA, the origin of presidential turkey pardons could be traced back to Lincoln — though that turkey was brought to the White House for Christmas dinner, not a Thanksgiving feast. Lincoln’s son Tad “interceded” on behalf of a live turkey, according to a White House reporter at the time.
Theodore Roosevelt
In the decades after Lincoln’s proclamation, the holiday flourished, despite not being an official federal holiday, according to the WHHA. The participants included the presidents themselves, who often spent the holiday at the White House — especially since travel was less convenient back then.
In 1902, President Roosevelt moved into the White House with his family in the midst of a renovation project, WHHA senior historian Matthew Costello said. When he found out the workmen on site were going to miss their Thanksgiving meals, he had the kitchen staff prepare and deliver them food.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
In 1936, FDR became the first president to celebrate Thanksgiving outside the USA, according to the WHHA. He was aboard the USS Indianapolis, en route to a conference in Buenos Aires, and celebrated with the cruiser’s captain, executive officer and chaplain.
In 1939, when the Great Depression was at its tail end, Roosevelt pushed the Thanksgiving holiday — then traditionally done on the last Thursday of November — a week up, to keep from slowing down Christmas sales. Congress passed a law in 1942 that declared the holiday would fall on the fourth Thursday of the month.
... And modern day
Just like any American, each president gets to decide how he spend his holidays.
Some, such as Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, traveled back to their homes in California for the holidays. Others, such as Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, opted for Thanksgiving trips to Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland.
President Trump is spending the autumn holiday in sunny Florida at his Mar-a-Lago resort in West Palm Beach.
“It’s not unusual for the Trump family to travel for their holiday,” Costello said.
Sometimes, the holiday can be shaped by what’s happening in the world. In 1979, amid the Iran hostage crisis, President Carter requested special prayers for the hostages in a Thanksgiving statement.
What does a typical, modern presidential Thanksgiving look like? Much like yours and mine, per the WHHA. In the days after the annual turkey pardoning — a tradition that officially began in the George H.W. Bush years — the first family hosts a meal (sometimes at the White House) and invites over close friends and family. President Obama and his family often spent the holiday in Washington.
“In a way, (Thanksgiving) nicely coincides with the history of the White House,” Costello said. “People seem to think the White House has never changed, but the traditions are injected by the occupants. They do their own unique thing, Democrat or Republican.”