Video: 'Thanksgiving Day Proclamation of 1789 by President George Washington FULL Audio Book'

(Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 26, 1789) — Americans observed a day of thanksgiving today set aside on Oct. 3, 1789, by President George Washington to “be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be.”

It was the first U.S. holiday by presidential proclamation.