American as Pumpkin Pie
Why Pilgrims would be stunned by our "traditional" Thanksgiving table, and other surprising truths about the invention of our national holiday.
TRANSCRIPT
Peter Onuf: This is BackStory with us, the American History Guys. In Peter Onuf, 18th century guy.
Ed Ayers: I’m Ed Ayers, 19th century history guy.
Brian Balogh: And I’m Brian Balogh, your 20th century history guy.
Brian Balogh: It’s that time of year in American, when the holidays start to come fast and furious. Thirty-five years ago, Charlie Brown just about summed it up to his sister, Sally, and his good buddy, Linus.
[Charlie Brown Clip] “We’ve got another holiday to worry about. It seems Thanksgiving Day is upon us. I haven’t even finished eating all my Halloween candy. Sally, Thanksgiving is a very important holiday. Ours was the first country in the world to make a national holiday to give thanks.”
Peter: Each week on BackStory, we take a topic from the here and now and explore its historical roots. This week, we’re getting out the carving knives and taking on Thanksgiving. Like Linus said, it’s a very important holiday; but why is it so important and why did the U.S. Declare a national holiday to give thanks. By the end of today’s show, we hope to have some answers.
Brian: Guys, I know that when it comes to holidays, Thanksgiving is really the big enchilada for historians; I mean, what other holiday do people get out and actually re-enact an episode from American history, but I get excited about Thanksgiving for an entirely different reason.
[football play-by-play]
Brian: Now, when we were planning today’s show, I made it clear how I felt about this to our producers, and as usual, they didn’t listen to me, they said I had to do an interview anyway, so I said, “All right, you find me someone who values what I value about the holiday, and I’ll do your interview.” Peter, Ed, our producers, once again, came through.
Roger Staubach: “I’m Roger Stabuch, I was a former quarterback for the United States Naval Academy, and I also spent 11 years as a quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys”
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Peter Onuf: This is BackStory with us, the American History Guys. In Peter Onuf, 18th century guy.
Ed Ayers: I’m Ed Ayers, 19th century history guy.
Brian Balogh: And I’m Brian Balogh, your 20th century history guy.
Brian Balogh: It’s that time of year in American, when the holidays start to come fast and furious. Thirty-five years ago, Charlie Brown just about summed it up to his sister, Sally, and his good buddy, Linus.
[Charlie Brown Clip] “We’ve got another holiday to worry about. It seems Thanksgiving Day is upon us. I haven’t even finished eating all my Halloween candy. Sally, Thanksgiving is a very important holiday. Ours was the first country in the world to make a national holiday to give thanks.”
Peter: Each week on BackStory, we take a topic from the here and now and explore its historical roots. This week, we’re getting out the carving knives and taking on Thanksgiving. Like Linus said, it’s a very important holiday; but why is it so important and why did the U.S. Declare a national holiday to give thanks. By the end of today’s show, we hope to have some answers.
Brian: Guys, I know that when it comes to holidays, Thanksgiving is really the big enchilada for historians; I mean, what other holiday do people get out and actually re-enact an episode from American history, but I get excited about Thanksgiving for an entirely different reason.
[football play-by-play]
Brian: Now, when we were planning today’s show, I made it clear how I felt about this to our producers, and as usual, they didn’t listen to me, they said I had to do an interview anyway, so I said, “All right, you find me someone who values what I value about the holiday, and I’ll do your interview.” Peter, Ed, our producers, once again, came through.
Roger Staubach: “I’m Roger Stabuch, I was a former quarterback for the United States Naval Academy, and I also spent 11 years as a quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys”
…
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