Thanksgiving without football 1939-45 looking for the reason

[smith03]

No NFL teams played on thanksgiving from 1939-45. Often the reason given for this is WW 2, but the US didn't join the war until Dec 1941. So it seems odd that the reason for the lack of games 1939-41 was due to the war. could it have had something to do with FDR moving the holiday around ? or did the idea of playing on thanksgiving just fall out of favor for a few years

[Mark L. Ford]

I don't know why nothing was scheduled in 1941, but Philadelphia and Pittsburgh played on Thanksgiving in 1939 and 1940. FDR had proclaimed the fourth Thursday to be Thanksgiving Day for 1939, though in '39 some states (including Pennsylvania) observed it on November 23 and some celebrated it on November 30.

Addendum: Also, the Lions revived their tradition when the 1945 schedule came out (when the war was still going on) with a 1945 game hosting the Cleveland Rams. I was checking, and there were still colleges and high schools playing Thanksgiving afternoon games during World War II.

[Rupert Patrick]

I don't know why nothing was scheduled in 1941, but Philadelphia and Pittsburgh played on Thanksgiving in 1939 and 1940. FDR had proclaimed the fourth Thursday to be Thanksgiving Day for 1939, though in '39 some states (including Pennsylvania) observed it on November 23 and some celebrated it on November 30.

The brouhaha was known as Franksgiving:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franksgiving

[luckyshow]

Left out of the article was that not only would Thanksgiving's Day, pre-1939, be on the Thursday of the last week of November, but that sometimes this would be on an early December date if 11/30 fell on Wednesday, Tuesday or maybe even Monday.

This was long enough ago, that Columbia played Syracuse at the Polo Grounds, on Thanksgivings Days.

[Ronfitch]

I don't know why nothing was scheduled in 1941, but Philadelphia and Pittsburgh played on Thanksgiving in 1939 and 1940. FDR had proclaimed the fourth Thursday to be Thanksgiving Day for 1939, though in '39 some states (including Pennsylvania) observed it on November 23 and some celebrated it on November 30.

The brouhaha was known as Franksgiving:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franksgiving

From the WIkipedia page:

"In August 1939, Lew Hahn, general manager of the Retail Dry Goods Association, warned Secretary of Commerce Harry Hopkins that the late calendar date of Thanksgiving that year (November 30) could possibly have an adverse effect on retail sales. At the time, it was considered bad form for retailers to display Christmas decorations or have "Christmas" sales before the celebration of Thanksgiving."

Time machine, please.

[oldecapecod11]

In Florida, they simply replace the Halloween garbage with Christmas stuff and hang a few turkey cut-outs in the aisles.
In fact, most of the Christmas lighting stays in place as well. It is just on a different circuit and readily available.
A lot of homes are the same.
The blow-up Santa and flamingo-drawn sleighs remain on the lawn with the icicle lights hanging from the fascia.
They are probably trying to keep pace with the NFL - between crime and slime, in the NEWS, 52 weeks a year.