In 1918, on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, a treaty was signed to end World War I, know as "The Great War" and as "the war to end all wars." On the one year anniversary of the treaty, November 11, 1919, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the day as the first commemoration of Armistice Day.
On June 4, 1926, Congress passed a concurrent resolution, recognized this date as a day to be remembered annually. It became a legal holiday on May 13, 1938 with the passing of the Act (52 Stat. 351; 5 U. S. Code, Sec. 87a). This day was set aside as a day to honor the veterans who fought in World War I. After World War II and the Korean War, the 83rd Congress (with the encouragment of veterans service organizations) amended the Act by replacing Armistice with the word Veterans. It was approved on June 1, 1954, and November 11th became Veterans Day.
On October 8, 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued the first "Veterans Day Proclamation" (19 Fed. Reg. 6545 (October 12, 1954).
For more information on this important day, visit the Office of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs' History of Veterans Day site.
Sonnet Erin Brown
Head of Federal Documents
Reference & Instruction Librarian
Subject Specialist: Legal Research, Political Science
Earth & Environmental Sciences, Engineering, Urban Studies
The observance of Veterans' Day is sometimes said to include both the ones we "memorialize" on Memorial Day, and those still living. I feel that Veterans' Day should focus mostly on those who served in our military, in all conflicts, who are still living. We owe all veterans a lot of appreciation. Many of them return from their experiences as patriotic pacifists, such as my husband, Johnny Powers, who served in the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War. Thanks for your blogging work, s.p., n.o.
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