With or Without the Turkey: Lessons From Thanksgiving in War and Hard Times

From Depression-era resourcefulness to World War II sacrifices, coming together has been an unwavering hallmark of the Thanksgiving holiday.

Servicemen enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner in New York City, 1918. Public domain

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then let’s cut to the chase and begin with Norman Rockwell’s painting “Freedom from Want.”

In March 1943, “Freedom from Want” appeared in The Saturday Evening Post. Like the other three paintings in Rockwell’s “Four Freedoms” series—he was inspired by President Franklin Roosevelt’s 1941 State of the Union Address—“Freedom from Want” has ever since served as the icon of our American Thanksgiving, so much so that most people know it only as “the Thanksgiving painting.”