(_November 7, 1917_)
It has long been the honored custom of our people to turn in the
fruitful autumn of the year in praise and thanksgiving to Almighty
God for His many blessings and mercies to us as a Nation. That custom
we can follow now, even in the midst of the tragedy of a world shaken
by war and immeasurable disaster, in the midst of sorrow and great
peril, because even amidst the darkness that has gathered about us we
can see the great blessings God has bestowed upon us; blessings that
are better than mere peace of mind and prosperity of enterprise.
We have been given the opportunity to serve mankind as we once served
ourselves in the great day of our declaration of independence, by
taking up arms against a tyranny that threatened to master and debase
men everywhere and joining with other free peoples in demanding for
all the nations of the world what we then demanded and obtained for
ourselves. In this day of the revelation of our duty not only to
defend our rights as a Nation, but to defend also the rights of free
men throughout the world, there has been vouchsafed us in full and
inspiring measure the resolution and spirit of united action. We have
been brought to one mind and purpose. A new vigor of common counsel
and common action has been revealed in us.
We should especially thank God that, in such circumstances, in the
midst of the greatest enterprise the spirits of men have ever entered
upon, we have, if we but observe a reasonable and practicable
economy, abundance with which to supply the needs of those associated
with us as well as our own.
A new light shines about us. The great duties of a new day awaken a
new and greater national spirit in us. We shall never again be
divided or wonder what stuff we are made of.
And while we render thanks for these things, let us pray Almighty God
that in all humbleness of spirit we may look always to Him for
guidance; that we may be kept constant in the spirit and purpose of
service; that by His grace our minds may be directed and our hands
strengthened, and that in His good time liberty and security and
peace and the comradeship of a common justice may be vouchsafed all
the nations of the earth.
Wherefore, I, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of
America, do hereby designate Thursday, the 29th day of November next,
as a day of thanksgiving and prayer, and invite the people throughout
the land to cease upon that day from their ordinary occupations and
in their several homes and places of worship to render thanks to God,
the Great Ruler of nations.