NOVEMBER 26th

On this date in:
1789	A day of thanksgiving was set aside by President George Washington to observe the adoption of the U.S. Constitution.
1825	The first college social fraternity, Kappa Alpha, was formed at Union College in Schenectady, N.Y.
1832	Public streetcar service began in New York City.
1940	The half million Jews of Warsaw, Poland, were forced by the Nazis to live within a walled ghetto.
1942	"Casablanca," starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, had its world premiere at the Hollywood Theater in New York.
1949	India adopted a constitution as a republic within the British Commonwealth.
1950	China entered the Korean War, launching a counter-offensive against soldiers from the United Nations, the United States and South Korea.
1965	France launched its first satellite.
1968	Cream, rock's first supergroup, played their farewell concert at London's Royal Albert Hall. (The band reunited for seven shows in 2005.)
1973	President Richard Nixon's personal secretary, Rose Mary Woods, told a federal court that she'd accidentally caused part of the 18 1/2-minute gap in a key Watergate tape.
1975	A federal jury in Sacramento, Calif., found Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a follower of Charles Manson, guilty of trying to assassinate President Gerald R. Ford.
1992	The British government announced that Queen Elizabeth II had volunteered to start paying taxes on her personal income, and would take her children off the public payroll.
1998	Tony Blair gave the first speech ever by a British prime minister to an Irish parliament.
2000	Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris certified Republican George W. Bush the winner over Democrat Al Gore in the state's presidential balloting by 537 votes.

Article of the day

FDR establishes modern Thanksgiving holiday

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill officially establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day.

The tradition of celebrating the holiday on Thursday dates back to the early history of the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies, when post-harvest holidays were celebrated on the weekday regularly set aside as "Lecture Day," a midweek church meeting where topical sermons were presented. A famous Thanksgiving observance occurred in the autumn of 1621, when Plymouth governor William Bradford invited local Indians to join the Pilgrims in a three-day festival held in gratitude for the bounty of the season.

Thanksgiving became an annual custom throughout New England in the 17th century, and in 1777 the Continental Congress declared the first national American Thanksgiving following the Patriot victory at Saratoga. In 1789, President George Washington became the first president to proclaim a Thanksgiving holiday, when, at the request of Congress, he proclaimed November 26, a Tuesday, as a day of national thanksgiving for the U.S. Constitution. However, it was not until 1863, when President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving to fall on the last Thursday of November, that the modern holiday was celebrated nationally.

With a few deviations, Lincoln's precedent was followed annually by every subsequent president--until 1939. In 1939, Franklin D. Roosevelt departed from tradition by declaring November 23, the next to last Thursday that year, as Thanksgiving Day. Considerable controversy surrounded this deviation, and some Americans refused to honor Roosevelt's declaration. For the next two years, Roosevelt repeated the unpopular proclamation, but on November 26, 1941, he admitted his mistake and signed a bill into law officially making the fourth Thursday in November the national holiday of Thanksgiving Day.

Today Birthdays

Natasha Bedingfield turns 27 years old today.

AP Photo/Peter Kramer Singer Natasha Bedingfield turns 27 years old today.

90 Ellen Albertini Dow Actress 70 Samuel Bodman Secretary of energy 70 Porter Goss Former CIA director 70 Rich Little Comedian 69 Tina Turner Rock singer 63 John McVie Rock musician (Fleetwood Mac) 62 Art Shell Football Hall of Famer 55 Harry Carson Football Hall of Famer 49 Jamie Rose Actress 46 Linda Davis Country singer 43 Bernard Allison Blues musician 43 Steve Grisaffe Country musician 35 Kristin Bauer Actress 35 Peter Facinelli Actor 32 Maia Campbell Actress 32 Joe Nichols Country singer 28 Jessica Bowman Actress 23 Lil Fizz R&B singer 21 Aubrey Collins Country singer