For 3 years America had two Thanksgivings days in November

[packman]

In 1939, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt faced a dilemma. He was responsible for declaring the last Thursday of November to be a day of Thanksgiving—something American presidents had done since Abraham Lincoln began the tradition. But November of 1939 had five Thursdays, which would shorten the holiday shopping season. Retailers still struggling from the Great Depression encouraged him to move Thanksgiving earlier by a week. To the country’s shock, Roosevelt agreed. For the next three years, some states recognized the federal government’s new Thanksgiving date, while others defiantly stuck with the old one.

Roosevelt had rejected previous requests to change the date of Thanksgiving, fearing that he would foil local plans and disrupt football schedules. But according to The New York Times, due to the urging of “department stores, general stores, small stores, and almost every kind of store,” Roosevelt announced on April 14, 1939, that Thanksgiving would be on November 23 instead of the expected November 30.

Finally a joint Congressional Resolution resolved the whole matter and that's what where we are today...

History about the day and the politics involved:

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/franksgiving-thanksgiving-franklin-delano-roosevelt

[underpants]

1. Damn. We could have had more football???

Interesting

[FakeNoose]

2. Most companies gave their employees the day off

... but they were all expected to report back to work on Friday.

No workers got a 4-day weekend then, except maybe the owner of the company. In fact many factories worked Friday and Saturday of Thanksgiving week, until the labor unions successfully negotiated the 40-hour week and paid holidays.

The football schedules organized around the additional leisure time that Americans have enjoyed in the past 50 years. Also television scheduling has had a bigger hand in football schedules more than most of us realize.