Why Veterans Day briefly moved to October — and states revolted
Veterans Day has sat on Nov. 11 for as long as most living veterans can remember, but there was a seven-year stretch when the federal government moved it to a Monday in October, and states largely refused to go along, according to Military.com.
Snapshot
Military.com traces how a 1968 law meant to create three-day weekends shifted Veterans Day to the fourth Monday in October starting in 1971, prompting confusion and state-level resistance that built over several years. Congress eventually reversed the change, restoring Nov. 11 effective Jan. 1, 1978, under a law signed by President Gerald R. Ford.
Key points
- Origins: A 1954 law renamed the existing Nov. 11 Armistice Day holiday as Veterans Day, dedicating it to honoring veterans and world peace, per the Statutes at Large.
- The switch: Public Law 90-363 in 1968 moved Veterans Day, along with Washington's Birthday, Memorial Day and Columbus Day, onto fixed Monday dates, with Veterans Day landing on the fourth Monday in October starting in 1971.
- Confusion and resistance: The VA's own history describes the first Monday observance, on Oct. 25, 1971, as happening "with much confusion," and says many states kept celebrating on the original dates.
- State holdouts: The Christian Science Monitor reported that Mississippi and South Dakota never left Nov. 11, and that Louisiana, Wisconsin and dozens of other states returned to Nov. 11 through the mid-1970s as veterans groups pushed back.
- The fix: Public Law 94-97, signed in 1975 and effective Jan. 1, 1978, restored Veterans Day to Nov. 11, with Ford citing the will of state legislatures, veterans organizations and the public.
Quick take
The episode shows how much weight Nov. 11 carries for veterans and the states that represent them. A convenience-driven calendar law lost out to a date tied directly to the end of World War I and to decades of remembrance that Americans weren't willing to shuffle around for a long weekend.
Read the full story: military.com