The holiday officially became Veterans Day on June 1, 1954, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed legislation changing its name from Armistice Day. This legislative act expanded the holiday's scope to honor American veterans of all wars, not just those who served in World War I. The core of the keyword phrase is the noun "Veterans Day," and its establishment as "a thing" is this specific legal and cultural transition from a day honoring one conflict to a day honoring all who have served.
The origin of the observance dates back to the end of World War I. An armistice between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918. In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day. It became a legal federal holiday in the United States on May 13, 1938, dedicated to the cause of world peace and honoring the veterans of World War I. Following the mass mobilizations of World War II and the Korean War, veterans' service organizations urged Congress to amend the 1938 act to be more inclusive, which led to the 1954 name change.
While the name and purpose were set in 1954, the date of observance was briefly altered. The Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1968 moved the celebration to the fourth Monday in October, beginning in 1971. However, the historical significance of the November 11 date was so strong that in 1975, President Gerald R. Ford signed a law returning the annual observance to its original date, effective in 1978. This final step solidified the holiday's identity, permanently linking the recognition of all veterans to the specific historical moment that first inspired the day of remembrance.
