Why Thanksgiving is always on a Thursday

Plus: JFK and Jonestown |

Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. SUBSCRIBE to TIME Magazine November 22, 2018 By Lily Rothman Happy Thanksgiving to our American readers! This year, in preparation for the holiday, TIME's Olivia B. Waxman took a look at one of the things that makes this celebration different from most other American holidays (and from Canadian Thanksgiving, too). Other U.S. federal holidays are either a specific calendar date, like July 4, or a Monday, as a result of a law that was passed in 1968. Thanksgiving, of course, is a Thursday. The reason turns out to be a fascinating story of the process of elimination. You can click here to read the whole thing. Here's more of the history that made news this week: HISTORY ON TIME.COM What It Was Like to Help Make Queen Elizabeth's Wedding Dress Behind the scenes at the Nov. 20, 1947, royal wedding, hundreds worked to make sure then-Princess Elizabeth would have the wedding of her dreams The Real Underworld That Lurks Behind My Brilliant Friend The bestselling novels, now an HBO series, tell a story not only of friendship, but also of the rising influence of organized crime in Naples The Definition of a Kilogram Just Changed Le kilogramme est mort. Vive le kilogramme! It's a major milestone in the grand history of the metric system What It Was Like to Work on the Jonestown Massacre Clean-Up The U.S. military was left to deal with the aftermath, and what crew members found there was 'beyond imagination' The Trailblazing Woman Who Swore In LBJ After JFK Died Sarah Hughes is the woman in the corner of the famous photo of Lyndon Johnson taking the oath of office FROM THE TIME VAULT Today in 1976: Charlie’s Angels “Everybody knows about the power of a great idea whose time has come. What often gets overlooked is that the strength of a mediocre idea whose historical moment has arrived can be just as awesome. This is especially worth considering in the weird realm of regularly scheduled prime-time commercial television, that bargain basement of American culture, where the very nature of the environment usually precludes great notions and the merely good ones are rare. Instead, the insipid and the tasteless constantly push and shove, tug and haul, rudely jockeying for position in the ratings that mean the difference between survival and death for programs.” (Nov. 22, 1976) Read the full story Today in 1999: Pokémon! “[What] can be objectionable about the too-cute-to-live Pokémon named Jigglypuff, a ball of fluff whose greatest power—not to be scoffed at—is a stupefying lullaby? But there is a problem: the key principle of the Pokéocracy is acquisitiveness. The more Pokémon you have, the greater power you possess (the slogan is GOTTA CATCH 'EM ALL). And never underestimate a child's ability to master the Pokéarcana required to accumulate such power: the ease with which they slip into cunning and thuggery can stun a mergers-and-acquisitions lawyer.” (Nov. 22, 1999) Read the full story 50 Years Ago: The Modern Catholic “It would be too much to hope—or fear —that the church is on the verge of a second Reformation. There is little question, however, that it is suffering from an internal rebellion of critical proportions. Priest-Sociologist Andrew Greeley of Chicago, in a recent column for U.S. diocesan newspapers, quoted a bishop as saying that there are two Catholicisms—an ‘official church’ belonging to the Pope and hierarchy, and an undefined ‘free church,’ which is attracting a growing number of laymen and priests. Similarly, Paulist Father Thomas Stransky, an official of Rome's Secretariat for Christian Unity, suggests that the church is suffering from a ‘silent schism’ of rebels who are remaining Catholic in name but are ‘hanging loose’ from the institutional church.” (Nov. 22, 1968) Read the full story HIGHLIGHTS FROM AROUND THE WEB Fowl Play This is from last year, but I’m reupping it for the holiday: Jonathan Kauffman’s New Yorker history of the Tofurky. Who’s That Man? Erica X Eisen at Slate has a look behind the scenes at Civil War Photo Sleuth, a website that uses facial recognition technology to identify heretofore anonymous subjects of Civil War portraits. It’s a Draw Philosophy professor Crispin Sartwell writes for the New York Times about the fascinating question of what kind of shape should be used to draw history. And it’s animated! It’s Alive! The Library of Congress’ Mike Mashon explains why a newly restored print of the first film adaptation of Frankenstein is big news, and how it happened. Speaker System Instead of a comedian, historian Ron Chernow will headline the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in April. Here’s the full announcement. To Unsubscribe Unsubscribe here if you do not want to receive this newsletter. Update Email Click here to update your email address. Privacy Policy Please read our Privacy Policy. TIME may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. For Further Communication Please email history@time.com TIME Customer Service 3000 University Center Drive Tampa, FL 33612-6408 Connect with TIME Find TIME on Facebook Follow TIME on Twitter Subscribe to more TIME Newsletters Get TIME on your Mobile Device Get TIME on your iPad Subscribe to RSS Feed