“In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the Thanksgiving holiday one week earlier than normal to the second-to-last Thursday of November rather than the last Thursday of November, believing that doing so would help boost the economy by creating an extra seven days of Christmas shopping. This led to much upheaval and protest…”
The notion that the reason for reduced holiday sales in the middle of the Great Depression was people not having enough time rather than not having enough money is fascinating to me. Business types never change, I guess.