Nevin's Data "Points"

  Thanksgiving has been called a “uniquely American” holiday — and as we approach the holiday season, it seems appropriate to take a moment to reflect upon, and acknowledge — to give thanks, if you will. While it’s the celebration following a successful harvest held by the group we now call “Pilgrims” and members of the Wampanoag tribe in 1621 that provides most of the imagery around the holiday, Thanksgiving didn’t become a national observance until much later. On Oct. 3, 1789, George Washington issued his Thanksgiving proclamation, designating for “the People of the United States a day of public thanks-giving” to be held on “Thursday the 26th day of November,” 1789, marking the first national celebration of the holiday. However, subsequent presidents failed to carry forward this tradition.      Incredibly, it wasn’t marked as a national observance until 1863 — right in the middle of the Civil War, (also on Oct. 3) and at a time when, arguably, there was l...

Thanksgiving has been called a “uniquely American” holiday—and so, even in a year in which there has been what seems to be an unprecedented amount of disruption, frustration, stress, discomfort and loss—there remains so much for which to be thankful. And as we approach the holiday season, it seems appropriate to take a moment to reflect upon, and acknowledge—to give thanks, if you will. While it’s the celebration following a successful harvest held by the group we now call “Pilgrims” and members of the Wampanoag tribe in 1621 that provides most of the imagery around the holiday, Thanksgiving didn’t become a national observance until much later. Incredibly, it wasn’t marked as a national observance until 1863—right in the middle of the Civil War, and at a time when, arguably, there was little for which to be thankful. Indeed, President Abraham Lincoln, in his proclamation regarding the observance, called on all Americans to ask God to “commend to his tender care all tho...

 It’s been said that there remains more that unites us than divides us—but that’s not how it feels most days.  However, such times are not all that unusual for this diverse nation. Indeed, if today’s battle lines do seem harsher and more extreme, my sense is that it’s only because they are magnified by media and social media, transported to us every minute of the day and night by devices we dare not relinquish any longer than to recharge the battery. Consider the nation’s declaration of independence which we will commemorate on Monday. Students of history—not to mention aficionados of the musical 1776 or   readers of David McCullough’s John Adams  or viewers of its HBO miniseries adaptation—know that the decision to declare independence was no easy matter. Indeed, the political bartering and frustrations involved in getting to a “unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America” would have been all-too familiar to the legislators of today....