Happy Thanksgiving
11/25/2009

As Americans, we have so much for which to be thankful. While I know that many in our community have had a difficult year, I hope that you will take time over the next few days to gather with family and friends and reflect on our many blessings, and that you all enjoy a happy and safe Thanksgiving. I've attached some fun facts, some useful links, and a copy of President Truman's 1945 Thanksgiving Proclamation.


Sincerely,

John Wiles




THANKSGIVING DAY, 1945
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION


In this year of our victory, absolute and final, over German fascism and Japanese militarism; in this time of peace so long awaited, which we are determined with all the United Nations to make permanent; on this day of our abundance, strength, and achievement; let us give thanks to Almighty Providence for these exceeding blessings.

We have won them with the courage and the blood of our soldiers, sailors, and airmen. We have won them by the sweat and ingenuity of our workers, farmers, engineers, and industrialists. We have won them with the devotion of our women and children. We have bought them with the treasure of our rich land. But above all we have won them because we cherish freedom beyond riches and even more than life itself.

We give thanks with the humility of free men, each knowing it was the might of no one arm but of all together by which we were saved. Liberty knows no race, creed, or class in our country or in the world. In unity we found our first weapon, for without it, both here and abroad, we were doomed. None have known this better than our very gallant dead, none better than their comrade, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Our thanksgiving has the humility of our deep mourning for them, our vast gratitude to them.

Triumph over the enemy has not dispelled every difficulty. Many vital and far-reaching decisions await us as we strive for a just and enduring peace. We will not fail if we preserve, in our own land and throughout the world, that same devotion to the essential freedoms and rights of mankind which sustained us throughout the war and brought us final victory.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, HARRY S. TRUMAN, President of the United States of America, in consonance with the joint resolution of Congress approved December 26, 1941, do hereby proclaim Thursday November 22, 1945, as a day of national thanksgiving. May we on that day, in our homes and in our places of worship, individually and as groups, express our humble thanks to Almighty God for the abundance of our blessings and may we on that occasion rededicate ourselves to those high principles of citizenship for which so many splendid Americans have recently given all.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States of America to be affixed.
DONE at the City of Washington 12th day of November in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred forty-five and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and seventieth.

HARRY S. TRUMAN

Fun Thanksgiving Facts



« The first Thanksgiving dinner was held in 1621 but there were not subsequent dinners. The tradition was formed when President Abraham Lincoln declared the final Thursday in November as a national day of thanksgiving. Congress finally made Thanksgiving Day an official national holiday in 1941.

« In 2007, an estimated 38.7 million Americans traveled 50 or more miles for Thanksgiving.

« An estimated 46 million turkeys totaling 690 million pounds were eaten on Thanksgiving in 2007.

« The cranberry is one of only three fruits that are completely native to North America. The Concord grape and the blueberry are the other two fruits.

« The world record for the largest pumpkin pie ever baked weighed in at 2.020 pounds and contained 155 dozen eggs.

« Macy's was not the first department store to host a Thanksgiving Day Parade. Gimbel's in Philadelphia had launched their parade in 1920. In 1924 however, Macy's put together a parade to kick start the Christmas shopping season and they have continued the annual tradition for 85 years now. The main talent featured in the first parade? Animals from the Central Park Zoo.

« The football on Thanksgiving Day tradition was born when the Detroit Lions faced the Chicago bears on Thanksgiving Day in 1934.

« Benjamin Franklin was of the opinion that the turkey, not the bald eagle should be the national symbol for the United States of America. He considered it "a Bird of Courage".

« The Turkey Trot was inspired by the turkey's slow, often jerky movements.

« Although President Lincoln is said to be the first president to pardon a turkey as he pardoned his son's pet turkey, President Harry Truman started the tradition of pardoning turkeys in 1947. Every president since has pardoned at least one turkey.

« The original Thanksgiving meal consisted of venison, wild fowl, lobster and seal. The pilgrims and Indians did not eat with forks.



* Fun Thanksgiving Facts are courtesy of the History Channel online, www.history.com.






Contact Senator Wiles


Please feel free to contact Sen. Wiles anytime.

800 Kennesaw Avenue, Suite 400
Marietta, Georgia 30060

770 426-4619 District Office
770 426-4846 Fax

john@johnwiles.com
www.johnwiles.com