The purpose of Armistice Day was to honor the fallen soldiers of the Great War for their sacrifice and bravery. Seven years later, in , Congress adopted a resolution requesting that President Calvin Coolidge issue annual proclamations on November 11, making Armistice Day a legal holiday.
He led a delegation to General Dwight Eisenhower, who was all for the idea. Weeks then organized the first Veterans Day celebration in in Alabama and every year since, until he died in In , Ed Rees, the U. Representative from Emporia, Kansas, presented a bill to establish the holiday to Congress. Eisenhower, who was then the president and also from Kansas, signed the bill into law on May 26, , eight and a half years after Raymond Weeks held the first Veterans Day.
The National Veterans Award was also created in , first received by Congressman Rees for his support in making Veterans Day a federal holiday. Though the holiday is currently and was originally celebrated on November 11, the day was moved to the fourth Monday of October in due to the Uniform Monday Holiday Act. Finally, on September 20, , President Gerald R. Ford signed a law that returned the annual observance of Veterans Day to its original date of November 11, beginning in The holiday is observed by the federal government on a Friday, if the holiday falls on Saturday, or on a Monday, if the holiday falls on a Sunday.
Federal government closings are established by the U. Office of Personnel Management. State and local government closings are determined locally and non-government businesses can close or remain open as they see fit, regardless of federal, state, or local government operation determinations.
The resolution called for educational efforts directed at elementary and secondary school students concerning the contributions and sacrifices of veterans. Raymond Weeks comes up with the idea that Armistice Day should be dedicated to all veterans rather than solely the soldiers who passed away during World War I. President Dwight D. Eisenhower changes the name of the day to Veterans Day to honor more than one set of veterans. The National Veterans Award is created to honor outstanding veterans who made the greatest contributions to veteran organizations throughout the country.
The unknown soldier from the Vietnam War, who was buried in Arlington National Cemetery, is identified as Michael Blassie, a year-old pilot shot down in on the border with Cambodia. Veterans Day is one of many days remembering the sacrifices of those who fought in a war to protect their country. A year after the armistice, Americans made plans to observe the anniversary nationwide.
Multiple governors declared legal holidays. On November 11, , the New York Times noted that people around the world would hold moments of silence at a. President Woodrow Wilson issued a message in commemoration of the anniversary. The ceremonies became an annual observance among many who wanted to keep the memory of the war alive, and by the U. Congress had adopted a resolution urging President Calvin Coolidge to issue annual Armistice Day proclamations.
But world peace proved elusive. In , the U. Over , American soldiers died in battle, and another , were wounded. The Korean War followed in , leading to the deaths of nearly 34, American soldiers and another , wounded.
By that time, Armistice Day had begun to seem outdated, as most veterans had been born after World War I ended. In , Alvin J. King , an Emporia, Kansas, cobbler who had lost a nephew during World War II, petitioned the city to rename the holiday to honor all who had served. That year, the city celebrated Veterans Day on November 11 instead.
Rees, took up the cause and proposed a federal name change. In , Congress passed a law that moved four federal holidays, including Veterans Day, to Monday, bowing to pressure from a coalition of travel and tourism groups that argued more three-day weekends would stimulate the economy. In a statement upon signing the bill, President Lyndon B.
Here are nine interesting facts about the holiday dedicated Live TV. This Day In History. History Vault. Veterans When Is Veterans Day? In , President Dwight D. Eisenhower officially changed the name of the holiday from Armistice Day to Veterans Day. The law went into effect in , but in President Gerald Ford returned Veterans Day to November 11, due to the important historical significance of the date.
Veterans Day commemorates veterans of all wars. In Europe, Great Britain and the Commonwealth countries it is common to observe two minutes of silence at 11 a.
However, controversy came to the universally recognized holiday in , when Congress tried to change when Veterans Day was celebrated as a national holiday, by moving the holiday to a Monday at the end of October. The Uniform Monday Holiday Act was signed on June 28, , and it changed the traditional days for Washington's Birthday, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and Columbus Day, to ensure that the holidays fell on a Monday, giving federal employees a three-day weekend.
The bill moved Veterans Day, at least on a federal level, to the last Monday in October, with the first observance of the new date in Veterans groups moved quickly to oppose the date switch, and two states refused to switch their dates in By , there was confusion over the two dates and most states took a pass on commemorating the holiday in October.
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