GOP Address: Tom Cotton Thanks Troops, Families on Thanksgiving

GOP Address: Tom Cotton Thanks Troops, Families on Thanksgiving

Transcript as follows:

Hello, I’m Tom Cotton, Senator-elect from Arkansas. I want to wish you and your family a blessed Thanksgiving holiday. For nearly as long as we’ve been a people, Americans have set aside a day for public thanksgiving for our many blessings.

Many trace our modern Thanksgiving back to the Pilgrims at Plymouth. Despite the hardships of the coming New England winter, the unforgiving terrain and climate, and the dangers of settling a new land, these Pilgrims celebrated a feast to thank God for his provision and protection.

In the earliest days of our new and untested government, President Washington established a day of Thanksgiving for Americans to, in his words, acknowledge ‘with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God.’

In the depths of the suffering and deprivation of the Civil War, President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday of November as a single day for a nationwide Thanksgiving, to help unify a deeply divided nation.

And just days after the shock of Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt signed a congressional resolution establishing the fourth Thursday of November as our national day of Thanksgiving, a practice which continues today.

A constant among these Thanksgivings and the one we celebrate today is gratitude for the blessings of a beneficent and loving Lord no matter the adversity of the times. Today, we as nation no doubt face many challenges – too many of our fellow citizens out of work, too many families struggling to make ends meet, too many enemies plotting to do us harm. But we have faced graver challenges and not simply survived, but thrived.

Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor

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