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You're listening to Fox News Radio. I'm Ben Domenech. America is a young country, but 1620 seems a long time ago. That was when, facing life in a Europe where a 30-year religious war had just begun, one that would in time upend the lives of subjects and monarchs alike, the Pilgrims, a mix of desperate and abused religious outcasts, decided to head west. They would leave the old world behind and take their families to the new.
102 Souls Came on the Mayflower
By the spring, half of them would be dead. Yet today, their children and grandchildren number in the tens of millions. Patriots today are proud to trace their heritage back to such men and women, the closest thing we have to American royalty. As the great Calvin Coolidge said in his speech marking the 300th anniversary of the Pilgrims' arrival at Plymouth Rock, they came not merely from the shores of the old world. It will be in vain to search among recorded maps and history for their origin.
They sailed up out of the infinite. There was among them small trace of the vanities of life. They came undecked with orders of nobility. They were not children of fortune, but of tribulation. Persecution, not preference, brought them hither. But it was a persecution in which they found a stern satisfaction. They cared little for titles, still less for the goods of this earth. But for an idea, they would die."
Measured by the standards of men of their time, they were the humble of the earth. Measured by later accomplishments, they were the mighty. There are many addresses and proclamations over the years that give tribute to the ideas underlying Thanksgiving. We obviously are in a time of great strife, of war around the world, in politics and in our culture, in a time of great upheaval.
But it's worth remembering that even in times of great upheaval in the past, we've found things to be thankful for. One of my personal favorites from this past century is Winston Churchill speaking on American Thanksgiving celebration in 1944 to a group of soldiers, servicemen, other government workers and the like at Royal Albert Hall. He said in part,
We have come here tonight to add our celebration to those which are going forward all over the world, wherever Allied troops are fighting, in bivouacs and dugouts, on battlefields, on the high seas, and in the highest air. Always this annual festival has been dear to the hearts of the American people. Always there has been that desire for thanksgiving, and never, I think, has there been more justification, more compulsive need, than now.
It is your day of Thanksgiving, and when we feel the truth of the facts which are before us, that in three or four years, the peaceful, peace-loving people of the United States, with all the variety and freedom of their life, in such contrast to the iron discipline which has governed many other communities,
When we see that in three or four years the United States has, in sober fact, become the greatest military, naval, and air power in the world, that, I say to you, in this time of war, is itself a subject for profound thanksgiving. We are moving forward in this struggle which spreads over all the lands and all the oceans.
We are moving forward surely, steadily, irresistibly, and perhaps with God's aid swiftly toward victorious peace. There again is a fitting reason for Thanksgiving. Tonight, here representing vaster audiences and greater forces moving outside this hall, it is both British and American Thanksgiving that we may celebrate. And why is that?
It is because under the compulsion of mysterious and all-powerful destiny, we are together. We are joined together, shedding our blood side by side, struggling for the same ideals, until the triumph of the great causes which we serve shall have been made manifest. But there is a greater Thanksgiving Day which still shines ahead, which beckons the bold and loyal and warm-hearted.
And that is when this union of action, which has been forced upon us by our common hatred of tyranny, which we have maintained during these dark and fearful days, shall become a lasting union of sympathy and good feeling, loyalty and hope between all the American and British peoples, wherever they may dwell.
Then, indeed, there will be a day of Thanksgiving, and one in which all the world will share. It's easy to think of Thanksgiving as a symbol today of fractiousness, a time when different people come together who needle each other over things in the news, where Uncle brings the finest things from Facebook,
And Young Nephew brings the finest ideas from the Academy and go at war over the ideas that they espouse as much as one might go over war between Ohio State and Michigan. But I think that this is something that is good in a way. It allows for this letting out of the tension between families and between individuals.
And I think if done rightly, it can be something that actually leads to more sympathy and more peace in the aftermath. Sometimes you need to get into a good scrum in order to just let it all out. It's my hope that that's something that can happen across America today. And also a time of coming together in unity, a time of getting together in order to remind each other of the things that are important in life and the things that aren't.
that those Facebook memes and that those ideas that you were taught by some overpaid professor, that they have their own place in our disputes and in our recompense. But it's also something that is far less important than hearth and home and then coming together as fellow loved ones, as fellow human beings, as family members, and finding the things that we value about each other again.
ideally over a well-cooked meal. So wishing you all a happy Thanksgiving. More of the Ben Domenech podcast right after this. This episode is brought to you by Shopify. Whether you're selling a little or a lot.
Shopify helps you do your thing, however you cha-ching. From the launch your online shop stage, all the way to the we just hit a million orders stage. No matter what stage you're in, Shopify's there to help you grow. Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at shopify.com slash special offer, all lowercase. That's shopify.com slash special offer.
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Let's close with this, the first Thanksgiving proclamation from our nation's first president.
By the President of the United States of America, a proclamation. Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor.
And whereas both houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.
Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November, next to be devoted by the people of these states to the service of that great and glorious being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be, that we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks for his kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation.
for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war, for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed, for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly, the national one now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed,
and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge, and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us. And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and ruler of nations, and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions.
to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually, to render our national government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed, to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations, especially such as have shown kindness unto us,
and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord, to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us, and generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best. Given under my hand at the City of New York, the third day of October, in the year of our Lord, 1789. George Washington. I'm Ben Domenech.
Wishing you all a happy Thanksgiving. Listen ad-free with a Fox News podcast plus subscription on Apple Podcasts. And Amazon Prime members can listen to this show ad-free on the Amazon Music app. Listen to the all-new Bret Baier podcast featuring Common Ground. In-depth talks with lawmakers from opposite sides of the aisle, along with all your Bret Baier favorites like his all-star panel and much more. Available now at foxnewspodcasts.com or wherever you get your podcasts.