Every November, Americans think of Thanksgiving as a quiet tradition centered on food, family, and gratitude. What most people do not realize is that the holiday has also been used repeatedly as a national security instrument. Presidents, generals, and strategists have leaned on Thanksgiving to shape morale, reinforce unity, and frame military conflict in ways supporting larger political goals. The result is a holiday serving both cultural and strategic purposes, even if the public rarely sees the deliberate planning behind it.
The Civil War and the Nationalization of Thanksgiving
The first turning point came in 1863, when President Abraham Lincoln issued his national Thanksgiving proclamation in the middle of the Civil War. Before Lincoln’s proclamation, Thanksgiving was not a unified national holiday. Colonies and early states declared occasional days of thanks, but the dates varied widely, and the celebrations were inconsistent from one region to another. It was Lincoln’s 1863 proclamation that transformed Thanksgiving into an annual national observance, driven largely by wartime necessity and a deliberate effort to stabilize public morale. The National Archives notes Lincoln’s declaration marked the first time Thanksgiving was formally set as a recurring national holiday, unifying state observances into a single tradition. Lincoln’s message, written by Secretary of State William H. Seward, asked the country to pause for gratitude despite a war that had already claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. The proclamation was published on October 3, 1863, and framed the Union’s cause as righteous and divinely supported.
Lincoln’s decision was not simply ceremonial. It occurred shortly after major Union victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, when the administration needed to stabilize public morale and reinforce the legitimacy of the war effort. The proclamation explicitly connected national unity to military success, creating a moral frame for the conflict and inviting civilians to see their sacrifices as meaningful to the country’s survival.
Thanksgiving as a World War Mobilization Tool
Thanksgiving became even more tightly linked to national security during the two World Wars. In World War I, President Woodrow Wilson’s 1918 Thanksgiving proclamation came just weeks after the Armistice. Wilson designated November 28, 1918, as a day of thanks for peace and described the Allied victory as a “triumph of right,” explicitly tying the holiday to the outcome of the war and to hopes for a just postwar order. The proclamation was distributed through diplomatic and consular channels, extending the message to Americans serving and working overseas.
On the ground, the Army treated Thanksgiving as a morale priority. A preserved menu from Camp Travis, Texas, shows soldiers in training in November 1917 were served a formal Thanksgiving meal, complete with turkey and traditional fixings, underscoring that the Army was already institutionalizing the holiday for troops in uniform.
By World War II, Thanksgiving had become a central part of how American leaders spoke about war and sacrifice. Franklin D. Roosevelt used his 1943 Thanksgiving proclamation to call on Americans to give thanks for wartime blessings while also accepting “the greatest measure of sacrifice and service” required by a global conflict, underscoring that gratitude and duty were inseparable. The political controversy over his decision in 1939 to move Thanksgiving to an earlier date for economic reasons, and Congress’s 1941 resolution fixing the holiday on the fourth Thursday in November, showed just how important the timing of Thanksgiving had become to national planning.
Military leadership also recognized Thanksgiving’s value in sustaining morale. During World War II, the War Department pledged to provide a proper Thanksgiving dinner to servicemembers “wherever he is fighting in this global war,” promising turkey, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie even in far-flung theaters such as England, Iceland, India, and North Africa. Delivering on that promise required large-scale logistics. In 1944, for example, the SS Great Republic executed the ”great turkey lift” and carried more than a million and a half pounds of turkey and other supplies to Europe so that American troops in the European Theater could receive something close to a traditional Thanksgiving meal despite the ongoing campaign.
Those decisions had consequences for civilians as well. One wartime account notes turkey was never formally rationed during World War II, but still became scarce before Thanksgiving because the government purchased so many birds to feed deployed troops. In other words, the state used both proclamation and procurement to make Thanksgiving part of the broader war effort, framing the holiday as a moment of national gratitude while simultaneously channeling food, labor, and attention toward the needs of the armed forces.
Cold War Messaging and the Politics of Unity
Thanksgiving again became a messaging tool during the Cold War. American leaders used holiday radio addresses to emphasize national unity and distinguish democratic values from those of adversarial governments. President John F. Kennedy’s 1962 Thanksgiving message, issued during the tense weeks after the Cuban Missile Crisis, explicitly tied the holiday to national resilience and the strength of American families.
This strategic use of Thanksgiving was not limited to international conflict. The holiday also shaped domestic perceptions of military life. Since the 1970s, the military has used Thanksgiving media coverage to highlight the sacrifices made by service members overseas. Photographs and video footage of troops sharing turkey in tents, ships, or forward bases create imagery of continuity and resilience, reinforcing a sense that the military is both part of the nation’s family and present around the world to safeguard it.
Thanksgiving and Modern Information Strategy
Thanksgiving also intersects with modern information operations. The Department of Defense continues to emphasize themes of gratitude and unity in public messaging, which helps counteract the polarization that sometimes affects public views of the military. When done well, these messages create a sense of stability and strengthen public support for service members, even during controversial missions.
The holiday also plays an internal role. Military leaders often see Thanksgiving as an opportunity to reinforce unit cohesion and discipline. Command teams typically organize special meals where senior leaders serve junior enlisted personnel, an old tradition meant to demonstrate humility and shared purpose.
Why Thanksgiving Does Not Stop Operations
Despite its cultural weight, Thanksgiving rarely affects operational decisions for U.S. forces. Historical accounts of the Korean War describe American-led United Nations troops pushing north in offensive operations on Thanksgiving Day 1950, even as commanders arranged a hot turkey dinner at the front. In Vietnam, one of the war’s first large battles at Ia Drang took place in the week before Thanksgiving 1965, which shows that late November remained an active combat period rather than a ritual pause.
During the post-9/11 campaigns, reporting from Afghanistan repeatedly emphasized Thanksgiving was “business as usual” for deployed units. Journalists embedded with U.S. forces described soldiers patrolling, capturing enemy weapons, and uncovering arms caches on Thanksgiving Day, with the holiday meal squeezed in around missions. A U.S. Army article put it bluntly, noting that “Thursday isn’t Thanksgiving for America’s enemies” and that hundreds of thousands of service members spend the holiday on guard around the world.
Other militaries have sometimes seen symbolic holiday pauses, such as the famous Christmas truce of 1914 on the Western Front, when British and German troops briefly suspended hostilities and fraternized in no man’s land. By contrast, modern U.S. practice treats Thanksgiving as a cultural observance that coexists with, rather than suspends, ongoing military operations.
Thanksgiving as a Strategic Tradition
Taken together, these threads form a larger picture: Thanksgiving serves as more than a cultural tradition. It has long been woven into national strategy, used to stabilize morale, reinforce political unity, and strengthen the relationship between civilians and the armed forces. The holiday’s unique blend of gratitude and national identity makes it a powerful tool – one presidents and military leaders have consciously relied on for more than a century.
