Thanksgiving Proclamation In The Year Of The Independence Of The United States Of America The Two Hundred & Fifth

In selecting this year's Thanksgiving message I thought how the recent election reminded me of the election of 1980 in which the United States went from four years of malaise to a triumphant spirit where Walter Cronkite's nightly countdown of the number of days American hostages were held in Iran ended @ 444 when Iran released the hostages to U.S. personnel during President Reagan's inaugural address; where former President Carter, acting as an emissary after attending the Reagan inauguration ceremony the day before, flew to an Air Force hospital in Wiesbaden, West Germany on January 21, 1981 to receive & visit with the hostages before the hostages were given a ticker tape parade on January 30, 1981 through the Canyon of Heroes in NYC; & where a man (Lenny Skutnik) dived into the icy Potomac River on January 13, 1982 after an airplane crashed into the 14th Street  Bridge during a blizzard to save the life of a woman he never met & later that man's heroism was acknowledged as President Reagan's guest @ the State of the Union address. 

These were all exhilarating times in America in the early 1980s much the way a considerable portion of the country feels uplifted today following Donald Trump's 312 to 226 electoral college victory & popular vote plurality 49.87% to 48.25%.  

Already one caravan of 3,000 migrants that started near the Guatemala border heading for easy entrance into the U.S. broke up upon hearing of Trump's election.  Also it will be a Happy Thanksgiving if the seven American hostages in Gaza along with about 100 Israelis are released by Hamas in the coming days. 

So impressive to me in writing this Thanksgiving message is that the 1980 Thanksgiving Day proclamation below was issued by Jimmy Carter just nine days after he suffered a humiliating  popular vote & electoral college defeat 489 to 49, winning only five states as the incumbent.

But the biggest difference between the two losing Democrat administrations in the 1980 & 2024 elections respectively: I never once felt that Carter was intentionally working against America & I never once, for a second, thought that Biden/Harris weren't intentionally working against America.

Jimmy Carter

39th President of the United States: 1977 ‐ 1981

Proclamation 4803—Thanksgiving Day, 1980

November 13, 1980

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

The greatest bounty of our Nation is the bounty of our heritage our diversity as immigrants and descendants of immigrants, our common identity as Americans.

We have set aside one day a year to give thanks for all that we have. Yet Thanksgiving is more than just a day of celebration. It is also a commemoration of the day America's earliest inhabitants sat down to table with European colonists.

That occasion was historic not only because it established a national holiday, but because it marked the start of a national tradition of cooperation, unity and tolerance.

Even in times of trial and frustration we have much to be thankful for, in our personal lives and in our Nation. As we pause on Thanksgiving to offer thanks to God, we should not forget that we also owe thanks to this country's forefathers who had the vision to join together in Thanksgiving, and who gave us so much of the vision of brotherhood that is ours today.

Now, Therefore, I, Jimmy Carter, President of the United States of America, do proclaim Thursday, the 27th of November, 1980 as Thanksgiving Day. I call upon all the people of our Nation to give thanks on that day for the blessings Almighty God has bestowed upon us, and to join the fervent prayer of George Washington who as President asked God to "... impart all the blessings we possess, or ask for ourselves to the whole family of mankind."

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this thirteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fifth.

JIMMY CARTER

Jimmy Carter, Proclamation 4803—Thanksgiving Day, 1980 Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/250884