Thanksgiving
On October 3, 1789, President George Washington issued a proclamation naming Thursday, November 26, 1789, as an official holiday of "sincere and humble thanks." The nation then celebrated its first Thanksgiving under its new Constitution. On October 3, 1863, President Lincoln made the traditional Thanksgiving celebration a nationwide holiday to be commemorated annually in November. View related records in the National Archives Catalog.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt carves the Thanksgiving turkey (National Archives Identifier 6728549)
President Harry S. Truman receives a Turkey for Thanksgiving (National Archives Identifier 200138)
President Dwight D. Eisenhower feeds a cranberry to a turkey he received from the Turkey Foundation on November 4, 1954, at the White House. (National Archives, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library)
Presentation of a Thanksgiving turkey to President John F. Kennedy (National Archives Identifier 6817150)
Annual presentation of a Thanksgiving turkey to President Lyndon B. Johnson (National Archives Identifier 6802682)
Annual presentation of a Thanksgiving turkey to President Richard Nixon (National Archives Identifier 194663)
President Gerald R. Ford is presented with a Thanksgiving turkey by the National Turkey Federation. (National Archives Identifier 6829627)
President George H.W. Bush participates in the presentation and pardoning of the National Thanksgiving Turkey. (National Archives Identifier 6728222)
"Turkey & Trimmings" with the 9th Italy Combat Camera Unit, 1944
Thanksgiving: Upside Down Turkeys? and Navy Cooks, 1956
Special Forces’ Thanksgiving dinner in Vietnam (Xom Cat) 1966
Servicemen Around the World Have Thanksgiving Turkey, 1969
President Johnson's Thanksgiving Message, 1963
President Reagan's Thanksgiving Messages, 1986, 1988
Presidential Turkey Presentations
Lyndon Johnson, 1968
Richard Nixon, 1969
Ronald Reagan, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1987, 1988
Prologue magazine: Thanksgiving: Another FDR Experiment
AOTUS Blog: Giving Thanks
AOTUS Blog: Blessings of Peace, Union and Harmony
Education Updates: Featured Document Display: Thanksgiving: Historical Perspectives
Education Updates: Lincoln’s 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation
Ford in Focus: Turkey Presentations
Ford in Focus: Gobble Gobble!
Forward with Roosevelt: The Year of Two Thanksgivings
Forward with Roosevelt: Thanksgiving 1941
Forward with Roosevelt: Thanksgiving 1943
Forward with Roosevelt: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Thanksgiving Proclamation
Forward with Roosevelt: Eleanor Roosevelt—My Day: November 22–30
Hoover Heads: Thanksgiving Proclamations and President Hoover
Hoover Heads: Thanksgiving Proclamation-Arkansas, 1931
Hoover Heads: Thanksgiving in the White House
NARAtions: Ten Records We're Thankful to Have at the National Archives
Pieces of History: Pre-federal Thanksgivings
Pieces of History: Thanksgiving as a Federal Holiday
Pieces of History: A Thanksgiving Presidential Proclamation (from George Washington!)
Pieces of History: Tasty tidbits for your Thanksgiving table
Pieces of History: A White House Thanksgiving - with recipes!
Pieces of History: Thanksgiving with the Presidents
Pieces of History: What’s Cooking Wednesday: Truman and the No-Turkey Thursday
Pieces of History: Reagan and the “Turkey Bird”
Pieces of History: Thanksgiving Aboard the Freedom Train
Text Message: Thanksgiving-Related Properties in the National Register of Historic Places
Text Message: Thanksgiving Around the World, World War I
Text Message: Cartoonist Clifford Berryman on Thanksgiving
Text Message: Thanksgiving in Rome, 1944
Unwritten Record: Gobble Gobble: America’s Thanksgiving Turkey Tradition
Unwritten Record: Images of the Week: Thanksgiving with the Troops
Unwritten Record: Mission: Turkey! Thanksgiving Dinner and the U.S. Military
Featured Document Display: Thanksgiving: Historical Perspectives
Founders Online: George Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation, 10/3/1789
National Archives Catalog: President Abraham Lincoln's Thanksgiving Day Proclamation of October 3, 1863
National Archives Catalog: Records tagged for "Thanksgiving"
Center for Legislative Archives: Congress Establishes Thanksgiving
DocsTeach: Lincoln's 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation
Hoover Library
Hoover Heads: Thanksgiving Proclamations and President Hoover
Hoover Heads: Thanksgiving in the [Hoover] White House
Roosevelt Library
Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Thanksgiving Proclamation
The year we had two Thanksgivings
Truman Library
Thanksgiving Presidential Proclamations
Bess Wallace Truman’s Thanksgiving Menu, 1947. Note: No turkey! During the winter of 1947, Americans were urged to eat less poultry so that grain that would normally go to feed livestock could be sent to famine-stricken people in Europe. The Trumans complied with the suggestions of the Citizens Food Committee (and ate their Thanksgiving turkey on Wednesdat, not Thursday).
Bess Wallace Truman’s Thanksgiving Menu, 1948
Eisenhower Library
Thanksgiving menu, Naval Air Station, Pearl Harbor, 1941
Nixon Library
Pat Nixon Receives the Annual Live Thanksgiving Turkey, 1971
Ford Library
Thanksgiving Presidential Proclamations and Statements
Reagan Library
Reagan Family Thanksgiving at Rancho del Cielo
Proclamation 4883—Thanksgiving Day, 1981
Proclamation 5551—Thanksgiving Day, 1986
Reagan's Thanksgiving Radio Address, 1988
George H. W. Bush Library
President George H. W. Bush Enjoys Thanksgiving Troops, 1990
Clinton Library
President Clinton and First Lady Receive a Thanksgiving Day Wreath from Children, 2003
President Clinton’s Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation Ceremony 2000
George W. Bush Library
From the archived website, titled “Thanksgivings at the White House”
Thanksgiving 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
Obama Library
The White House Blog: The Definitive History of the Presidential Turkey Pardon
President Obama Pardons Turkey (2010 video)
President Obama's Final Turkey Pardon
Thanksgiving Proclamations: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016
Trump Library