Look harder next time, will you?
UPDATE: Below is a fairly extensive post that cites every President's Thanksgiving Day proclamation since Abraham Lincoln made it official in 1863. Also, at the end, is a fairly short commentary where I take President Obama to task for not referencing God in his remarks. Buzzing around the internet this evening were reports that Obama had offended many by not including God in his weekly address.
I searched the White House website for this year's proclamation and didn't see it in my first sweep. I compared, unfairly I should add, Obama's weekly address with other's proclamations. Turns out that President Obama did include references to God in his Thanksgiving Day Proclamation.
As we gather in our communities and in our homes, around the table or near the hearth, we give thanks to each other and to God for the many kindnesses and comforts that grace our lives. Let us pause to recount the simple gifts that sustain us, and resolve to pay them forward in the year to come.
The Original post is still intact below, but my entire premise is shot. I should've looked harder for his proclamation. I just missed it...
Mea Culpa...
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Since George Washington, United States Presidents offered remarks of thanksgiving at various points of their tenure in office. President Abraham Lincoln officially began our annual Thanksgiving Day celebration in late November 1863 with a proclamation making it a Federal Holiday.
An excerpt from Lincoln's Proclamation:
"I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union."
Typically, all Presidents since Lincoln have offered up remarks or a proclamation toward Thanksgiving. Usually, they also include a reference to God within those remarks. Here's a snippet from each POTUS since old Abe's...
Ulysses S Grant, 1869:
Therefore I, Ulysses S. Grant, President of the United States, do recommend that Thursday, the 18th day of November next, be observed as a day of thanksgiving and of praise and of prayer to Almighty God, the creator and the ruler of the universe; and I do further recommend to all the people of the United States to assemble on that day in their accustomed places of public worship and to unite in the homage and praise due to the bountiful Father of All Mercies and in fervent prayer for the continuance of the manifold blessings he has vouchsafed to us as a people...
Rutherford B.Hayes, 1877:
Under a sense of these infinite obligations to the Great Ruler of Times and Seasons and Events, let us humbly ascribe it to our own faults and frailties if in any degree that perfect concord and happiness, peace and justice, which such great mercies should diffuse through the hearts and lives of our people do not altogether and always and everywhere prevail. Let us with one spirit and with one voice lift up praise and thanksgiving to God for His manifold goodness to our land, His manifest care for our nation.
Chester Arthur, 1881:
I, Chester A. Arthur, President of the United States, do recommend that all the people observe Thursday, the 24th day of November instant, as a day of national thanksgiving and prayer, by ceasing, so far as may be, from their secular labors and meeting in their several places of worship, there to join in ascribing honor and praise to Almighty God, whose goodness has been so manifest in our history and in our lives, and offering earnest prayers that His bounties may continue to us and to our children.
Grover Cleveland, 1888:
"The American people have always abundant cause to be thankful to Almighty God, whose watchful care and guiding hand have been manifested in every stage of their national life, guarding and protecting them in time of peril and safely leading them in the hour of darkness and of danger...It is fitting and proper that a nation thus favored should on one day in every year, for that purpose especially appointed, publicly acknowledge the goodness of God and return thanks to Him for all His gracious gifts."
Benjamin J. Harrison, 1889:
A highly favored people, mindful of their dependence on the bounty of Divine Providence, should seek fitting occasion to testify gratitude and ascribe praise to Him who is the author of their many blessings. It behooves us, then, to look back with thankful hearts over the past year and bless God for His infinite mercy in vouchsafing to our land enduring peace, to our people freedom from pestilence and famine, to our husbandmen abundant harvests, and to them that labor a recompense of their toil.
William McKinley, 1897:
In remembrance of God's goodness to us during the past year, which has been so abundant, "let us offer unto Him our thanksgiving and pay our vows unto the Most High." Under His watchful providence industry has prospered, the conditions of labor have been improved, the rewards of the husbandman have been increased, and the comforts of our homes multiplied. His mighty hand has preserved peace and protected the nation. Respect for law and order has been strengthened, love of free institutions cherished, and all sections of our beloved country brought into closer bonds of fraternal regard and generous cooperation.
Theodore Roosevelt, 1901:
The season is nigh when, according to the time-hallowed custom of our people, the President appoints a day as the especial occasion for praise and thanksgiving to God...Now, Therefore, I, Theodore Roosevelt,President of the United States, do hereby designate as a day of general thanksgiving Thursday, the 28th of this present November, and do recommend that throughout the land the people cease from their wonted occupations, and at their several homes and places of worship reverently thank the Giver of all good for the countless blessings of our national life.
William Howard Taft, 1909:
It is altogether fitting that we should humbly and gratefully acknowledge the Divine source of these blessings. Therefore,I hereby appoint Thursday, the twenty-fifth day of November, as a day of general thanksgiving, and I call upon the people on that day, laying aside their usual vocations, to repair to their churches and unite in appropriate services of praise and thanks to Almighty God.
Woodrow Wilson, 1913:
The season is at hand in which it has been our long respected custom as a people to turn in praise and thanksgiving to Almighty God for his manifold mercies and blessings to us as a nation. The year that has just passed has been marked in a peculiar degree by manifestations of His gracious and beneficent providence.
Warren G. Harding, 1921:
The season is at hand in which it has been our long respected custom as a people to turn in praise and thanksgiving to Almighty God for his manifold mercies and blessings to us as a nation. The year that has just passed has been marked in a peculiar degree by manifestations of His gracious and beneficent providence.
Calvin Coolidge, 1923:
Wherefore, I, Calvin Coolidge,President of the United States, do hereby fix and designate Thursday, the twenty-ninth day of November, as Thanksgiving Day, and recommend its general observance throughout the land. It is urged that the people, gathering in their homes and their usual places of worship, give expression to their gratitude for the benefits and blessings that a gracious Providence has bestowed upon them, and seek the guidance of Almighty God, that they may deserve a continuance of His favor.
Herbert Hoover, 1929:
Now, Therefore, I, Herbert Hoover,President of the United States of America, do appoint and set aside Thursday, the twenty-eighth day of November, as a day of National Thanksgiving, and do recommend that all our people on that day rest from their daily work that they should extend to others less fortunately placed, a share in their abundance, and that they gather at their accustomed places of worship, there to render up thanks to Almighty God for His many blessings upon them, for his forbearance and goodness.
Franklin D. Roosevelt. 1933:
Harry S. Truman, 1945:
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.
Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953:
As a nation much blessed, we feel impelled at harvest time to follow the tradition handed down by our Pilgrim Fathers of pausing from our labors for one day to render thanks to Almighty God for His bounties. Now that the year is drawing to a close, once again it is fitting that we incline our thoughts to His mercies and offer to Him our special prayers of gratitude.
John F. Kennedy, 1961:
"It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord."
Lyndon Baines Johnson, 1963:
"...let us gather in our homes and in our places of worship and in other suitable places to give thanks to God for His graciousness and His generosity to us-to pledge to Him our everlasting devotion-to beseech His divine guidance and the wisdom and strength to recognize and follow that guidance--and to pray to Him that the forces of evil, violence, indifference, intolerance, and inhumanity may soon vanish from the face of the earth and that peace, reason, understanding, and goodwill may reign supreme throughout the world."
Richard M. Nixon, 1969:
Throughout our history, Americans have celebrated this day in both a spiritual and festive fashion, rejoicing in the blessings bestowed upon them by our Creator.
Gerald Ford, 1974:
It is a time when the differences of a diverse people are forgotten and all Americans join in giving thanks to God for the blessings we share - the blessings of freedom, opportunity and abundance that make America so unique.
Jimmy Carter, 1979:
Now, Therefore, I, Jimmy Carter,President of the United States of America, do proclaim Thursday, the 22nd of November, 1979 as Thanksgiving Day. I ask all Americans to give thanks on that day for the blessings Almighty God has bestowed upon us, and seek to be good stewards of what we have received.
Ronald Reagan, 1981:
As we celebrate Thanksgiving in 1981, we should reflect on the full meaning of this day as we enjoy the fellowship that is so much a part of the holiday festivities. Searching our hearts, we should ask what we can do as individuals to demonstrate our gratitude to God for all He has done. Such reflection can only add to the significance of this precious day of remembrance.
George H.W. Bush, 1989:
Now, Therefore, I, George Bush,President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim Thursday, November 23, 1989, as a National Day of Thanksgiving, and I call upon the American people to gather together in homes and places of worship on that day of thanks to affirm by their prayers and their gratitude the many blessings God has bestowed upon us and our Nation.
Bill Clinton, 1994:
On Thanksgiving Day, we set aside our daily routines to acknowledge the bounty and mercy of Divine Providence.
George W. Bush, 2001:
As we recover from the terrible tragedies of September 11, Americans of every belief and heritage give thanks to God for the many blessings we enjoy as a free, faithful, and fair-minded land.
Barack Obama, 2010:
As we stand at the close of one year and look to the promise of the next, we lift up our hearts in gratitude to God for our many blessings, for one another, and for our Nation...As Americans gather for the time-honored Thanksgiving Day meal, let us rejoice in the abundance that graces our tables, in the simple gifts that mark our days, in the loved ones who enrich our lives, and in the gifts of a gracious God.
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I found just three Thanksgiving Day remarks by all the Presidents since Lincoln that did NOT include a direct reference to God. Richard Nixon in 1969, Jimmy Carter in 1978 and now, Barack Obama in 2011.
Given the tenuous position Mr. Obama currently calls his own in the polls, it would not seem to be prudent to take such a road less traveled, with regard to using a reference to God in your Thanksgiving Day remarks. Adding a short line or two would not have detracted from your main message whatsoever, and would prevented the media frenzy that is beginning to grow.
This is a small thing. I just can't see how you felt this was the wise way to handle this. Its small, yes...but clumsy. Don't give your opponents something so delightfully easy to skew you with.
I've said this before about President Obama and I'll said it again. He must knock off the silly stuff if he hopes to get re-elected in 2012. This was self inflicted and totally unnecessary.
Sources:
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php#axzz1eg4Ju7j1
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