Gobble, gobble, gobble! Happy Thanksgiving to All! Today we are celebrating the American holiday of giving thanks for the bountiful we had the past year.
Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States, and around the same part of the year in other places. In Canada Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday of October. Although Thanksgiving has historical roots in religious and cultural traditions, it has long been celebrated as a secular holiday as well.
Americans celebrate Thanksgiving dinner with all the family. The main dish is usually turkey served with stuffing, other foods include mashed potatoes with gravy, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole with crunchy fried onions, baked yams with marshmallows on top, and pumpkin pies served with some whipped cream toppings.
Prayers of thanks and special thanksgiving ceremonies are common among almost all religions after harvest and at other times. Some churches hold services and are commonly followed by a Thanksgiving feast serving turkey and pumpkin pies.
Thanksgiving is celebrated both with family and in public places with parades like the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade in New York City, ABC Dunkin’ Donuts Thanksgiving Day Parade in Philadelphia, America’s Hometown Thanksgiving Parade in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and more.
So, today, celebrate Thanksgiving with your family, be thankful for the bountiful and enjoy those turkey and pumpkin pies. Share on social media some experience and photos using #ThanksgivingDay.
1943 FDR attends the Tehran Conference
On November 28, 1943, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt joins British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin at a conference in Iran to discuss strategies for winning World War II and potential terms for a peace settlement.
Tehran, Iran, was chosen as the site for the talks largely due to its strategic importance to the Allies. The United States was able to get supplies to the Soviets through Iran when Germany controlled most of Europe, the Balkans, and North Africa, and German U-boat attacks on Allied shipping in the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea made transport treacherous. When first lady Eleanor and the couple’s daughter Anna expressed a desire to accompany Roosevelt to Iran, he flatly refused, saying there would be no women allowed at the preliminary conference between himself and Churchill in Cairo or at the Tehran meeting. Eleanor and Anna were incensed to find out later that Churchill’s wife and Madame Chiang Kai Shek from China had made the trip.
Roosevelt was in his third term as president in 1943. According to biographer Doris Kearns Goodwin, instead of feeling trepidation about the dangers of a secret trip through war zones, Roosevelt was eager to meet again with his friend Churchill. He also expressed excitement at the prospect of meeting Stalin for the first time and relished the challenge of bringing the stern, forbidding Soviet leader into the Pacific war against Japan.
(excerpted from https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/fdr-attends-tehran-conference)
