“Today, we give our thanks, most of all, for the ideals of honor and faith we inherit from our forefathers — for the decency of purpose, steadfastness of resolve and strength of will, for the courage and the humility, which they possessed and which we must seek every day to emulate. As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.
“Let us therefore proclaim our gratitude to Providence for manifold blessings — let us be humbly thankful for inherited ideals — and let us resolve to share those blessings and those ideals with our fellow human beings throughout the world. On that day, let us gather in sanctuaries dedicated to worship and in homes blessed by family affection to express our gratitude for the glorious gifts of God; and let us earnestly and humbly pray that he will continue to guide and sustain us in the great unfinished tasks of achieving peace, justice, and understanding among all men and nations and of ending misery and suffering wherever they exist.”
President John F. Kennedy wrote those words in a national proclamation issued Nov. 4, 1963, designating a day of Thanksgiving on Nov. 28.
The next national proclamation would be issued Nov. 23, for a National Day of Mourning to be held Nov. 25, recognizing Kennedy’s death.
In his Thanksgiving proclamation, Kennedy also paused to recognize the first presidential administration to proclaim “a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God” on Nov. 26, 1789, after the colonies had first achieved their independence. He also looked back at November 1863, when President Lincoln, in the midst of a civil war, set aside a day “to renew our gratitude for America’s ‘fruitful fields,’ for our ‘national strength and vigor,’ and for all our’ singular deliverances and blessings.’”
As we approach Thanksgiving 2020, are we the nation for which Kennedy, Washington and Lincoln were thankful?
We believe we are. Although we may have lost our way in recent years, the principles they sought to preserve, “peace, justice, and understanding among all men and nations and of ending misery and suffering wherever they exist,” are still a part of who we are.
Those are the blessings for which we will be thankful for Nov. 26, 2020.
— Daily American Republic