Is the year Sarah Josepha Hale began a campaign to reinstate a Thanksgiving holiday after the model of the first presidents, according to the Plimoth Plantation website. Drawing on her influence as the editor of the women’s magazine Godey’s Lady’s Book, she publicly petitioned several presidents to make it an annual event.
Ms. Hale’s efforts finally bore fruit in 1863, as President Lincoln agreed that a national Thanksgiving might serve to unite a war-torn country.
Although succeeding presidents continued to make Thanksgiving an annual event, it was only in 1941 that Congress formalized the date as the fourth Thursday each November.
