The annual American holiday called Thanksgiving formally began with a 1863 proclamation from Abraham Lincoln declaring the last Thursday in November a day of "thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens," as well as "humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience."

The thought behind Thanksgiving is outward toward God and his blessings and not inward, which suggests gratitude to no one in particular for whatever positives might have occurred in one's life. In the more secular view these positives are not blessings, but are to be chalked up to luck, or "good fortune." May "The Force" be with you.

Most presidents after Lincoln generally followed the pattern of giving thanks to the Deity, even and especially during wars and economic downturns.

In 1939, in the midst of The Great Depression and a looming World War........

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