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Veterans Day

Next celebratedWednesday, November 11, 2026

Americans set November 11 aside for their veterans. The truce that stopped the fighting in 1918 was written to run 36 days, and had to be renewed three times.

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Last updated September 6, 2026 · by the Holiday Calendar TeamHave an update or spot an error?
YEARLY DATENovember 11
OBSERVED INUnited States
CATEGORYFederal
ORIGIN

Enacted Law

FOUNDING ENTITY
83rd United States Congress
FIRST OBSERVED
1954
“The 1954 act's whole instruction: striking out the word "Armistice" and inserting in lieu thereof the word "Veterans".
HOW THE HOLIDAY CAME TO BE

A one-word amendment turned an anniversary into a tribute.

Congress made November 11 a federal legal holiday called Armistice Day by an act approved May 13, 1938. On June 1, 1954 the 83rd Congress passed Public Law 380, a single sentence amending that act.

View the 1954 Statutevia U.S. Government Publishing Office
INTRO

Congress moved the date and forty-two states moved it back

For seven years the United States kept Veterans Day on two dates at once. Federal law had moved the holiday to the fourth Monday in October. Most of the states switched, and then changed their laws back.

The Senate Judiciary Committee's report on S. 331, in March 1975, counted forty-two states that had put the November date back into their own law. Two more had never changed at all. That made a total of 44 states, which the committee itself called 88 percent of the United States.

So the country ran two observances in the same year. The Office of Management and Budget, reporting to President Ford on the bill, named one of the places holding both: the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery.

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ORIGINS

Veterans Day history

INTRODUCTION

The date was a state holiday before it was a federal one. Congress took up November 11 in a concurrent resolution on June 4, 1926, whose preamble said twenty-seven state legislatures had already declared the day a legal holiday. It asked for a proclamation, not a holiday: fly the flag, and invite the country to mark the day.

Washington caught up twelve years later. An act approved May 13, 1938 made November 11 a legal public holiday, dedicated to the cause of world peace and known as Armistice Day.

CHAPTER 01

One word, and a different holiday

The law that produced the name runs to one sentence. Public Law 380, approved June 1, 1954, amended the earlier act by striking out Armistice and inserting Veterans. Its title kept the older idea, to honor veterans on a day dedicated to world peace.

Eisenhower gave the new name its first proclamation that autumn. Proclamation 3071, signed October 8, called on citizens to observe Thursday, November 11, 1954, as Veterans Day. It also created a Veterans Day National Committee under the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs.

CHAPTER 02

Seven Octobers

In 1968 Congress decided the week mattered more than the date. The Uniform Monday Holiday Act moved Veterans Day to the fourth Monday in October, effective January 1, 1971. Nixon's Executive Order 11582 pushed the October date through the whole executive branch.

The first October observance, on October 25, 1971, was in the VA's own words observed with much confusion. The Standing Subcommittee on Federal Charters, Holidays and Celebrations took the question up at hearings on June 3 and July 11, 1974, where twenty-six witnesses appeared. The committee's verdict was flat: the Monday holiday law's anticipated good results "have not been realized, particularly with respect to Veterans Day."

CHAPTER 03

Washington gives in

The Civil Service Commission liked Monday holidays. It told the White House it had opposed restoring Memorial Day, for lack of action by a majority of the states, and supported restoring Veterans Day. Public Law 94-97, approved September 18, 1975, put the holiday back on November 11.

In 1982 the renaming got a ceremony of its own. At 10:01 on the morning of November 11, in the State Dining Room, Reagan opened with "This morning we're honoring an American patriot, Raymond Weeks, of Birmingham, Alabama," and gave him the Presidential Citizens Medal. Reagan called Weeks, a World War II veteran, "the driving force behind the congressional action which in 1954 established this special holiday," and closed by thanking "the man who has made Armistice Day into this Veterans Day."

WHY THIS DAY MATTERS

Why Veterans Day Matters

SERVICE

One observance for service from World War II to post-9/11.

Of the American veterans recorded by the Census Bureau in 2024, 31.3% served in the Vietnam era, the largest share of any period of service. Another 29.9% served after 9/11, and 0.4% served in World War II.

CEREMONY

The observance still opens on the armistice hour

The Veterans Day National Ceremony is held each year at Arlington National Cemetery and commences precisely at 11:00 a.m. with a wreath laying at the Tomb of the Unknowns, the place the 1975 White House file called the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. That is the hour hostilities were suspended in 1918, and the ceremony continues inside the Memorial Amphitheater.

COMMITTEE

Almost 50 organizations plan the day together

The Veterans Day National Committee oversees national planning and coordination of the observance, and the VA says it is made of almost 50 veteran serving organizations. Since March 1989, when VA became a cabinet level department, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs has served as its chairman.

BY THE NUMBERS

Veterans Day by the Numbers

15.7 million
US military veterans in 2024
1.7 million
US women veterans in 2024
410 to 6
House vote to restore November 11
About 60
State and city resolutions for November 11
32
Federal Register proclamations, 1994 to 2025

TIMELINE

Timeline

The first Armistice Day

President Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day, an observance built around parades, public meetings and a suspension of business at 11 a.m.

Congress asks for a proclamation

A concurrent resolution passed on June 4 asked the President to call for the flag to be displayed on all Government buildings each November 11.

November 11 becomes a federal holiday

An act approved May 13 made the date a legal public holiday, to be celebrated and known as Armistice Day.

Armistice becomes Veterans

Public Law 380, approved June 1, replaced a single word in the 1938 act, and Eisenhower issued the first Veterans Day proclamation that October.

The date moves to October

The Uniform Monday Holiday Act rewrote the federal holiday list to read Veterans Day, the fourth Monday in October, effective January 1, 1971.

November 11 is restored

Public Law 94-97, approved September 18, returned Veterans Day to November 11 beginning in 1978.

GOOD TO KNOW

Surprising facts about Veterans Day

The eleventh hour is five a.m. plus six hours

The armistice's own text, printed in the State Department's Foreign Relations series, says it was signed at 5 o'clock a.m. French time. Clause I set the cessation of hostilities six hours after the signing, and five plus six is eleven.

What stopped that morning was a 36-day truce

Clause XXXIV set the duration of the armistice at 36 days, with option to extend. The same volume carries three prolongation conventions, dated December 13, 1918, January 16, 1919 and February 16, 1919.

The committee said the delay would suit the calendar industry

OMB, summarizing the Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote that the wait would promote convenience for those who arrange Veterans Day events, as well as the calendar industry.

The case for Monday holidays included an energy argument

The Civil Service Commission wrote on September 12, 1975 that benefits also accrue in conserving energy when Federal activities can be cut back or shut down over three-day weekends. The letter was signed by its chairman, Robert E. Hampton.

Wilson took the anniversary to the radio in 1923

Woodrow Wilson gave a radio address on November 10, 1923, the eve of the anniversary, and the Library of Congress added it to the National Recording Registry in 2004. The Library's Teaching with the Library blog calls it the earliest surviving sound recording of a regular radio broadcast.

The desires of veterans and many other Americans for a special date of commemoration is more important than ... commercial interests....
Senate Committee on the Judiciaryanswering the recreation and vacation industries, in its report on S. 331, as quoted by the Office of Management and Budget
Americans have appreciated and wish to retain the historic significance of November 11 as the day set aside each year by a grateful nation to remember and honor those, living and dead, who fought to win and preserve our freedom.
Gerald R. FordPresident of the United States, statement of September 20, 1975

GOOD TO KNOW

Veterans Day Around the World

Canada

observes Remembrance Day on November 11

Australia

observes Remembrance Day on November 11, which the VA describes as very much like America's Memorial Day, a day to honor that nation's war dead

Great Britain

observes Remembrance Day on the Sunday nearest November 11, with a two-minute silence at 11 a.m. at the Cenotaph in Whitehall

France

commemorated November 11 as Armistice Day between the world wars, alongside the United States and Great Britain

MYTH VS FACT

Common Misconceptions

The myth

Veterans Day and Memorial Day are two names for the same observance.

The truth

The VA keeps them apart. Memorial Day is for remembering and honoring military personnel who died in the service of their country, while Veterans Day is the day set aside to thank and honor all those who served honorably, and is largely intended to thank living veterans.

The myth

Wearing a poppy is a Veterans Day tradition.

The truth

The VA says the wearing of poppies in honor of America's war dead is traditionally done on Memorial Day, not Veterans Day. The practice takes its origin from the poem In Flanders Fields, written in 1915 by John McCrae.

The myth

The name is spelled Veteran's Day.

The truth

The VA states that the name takes no apostrophe but keeps the s at the end of veterans, because it is not a day that belongs to veterans, it is a day for honoring all veterans.

GET INVOLVED

How to Observe Veterans Day

EDITOR'S PICK

Thank a veteran, in war or peace

Peacetime service sits inside the VA's own wording, not outside it. If the veteran you know served in a quiet decade, November 11 is still the day to say so.

LOOK

Look through the VA's Veterans Day poster gallery

The VA runs an annual Veterans Day Poster Competition. Its gallery of winning designs runs from 1978 until 2026.

READ

Read the armistice terms in the original

The State Department's Foreign Relations of the United States series prints the text signed on November 11, 1918. It runs clause by clause, from the cessation of hostilities to the length of the truce.

MARK

Mark the day in a school or church

The 1926 resolution invited Americans to observe November 11 in schools and churches, or other suitable places, with appropriate ceremonies. That invitation is still printed in the Statutes at Large.

CHECK

Check whether your own office actually closes

Federal closings are set by the Office of Personnel Management, and the VA notes that state and local governments, including schools, are not required to follow OPM closure policies. The federal calendar does not settle your own day off.

Test your knowledge

How well do you know Veterans Day?

1 / 7

What did the 1954 law that produced the name Veterans Day actually do?

Answer

Yes. It is one of the legal public holidays listed by name in 5 U.S.C. 6103(a), and the VA says it is always observed officially on November 11, regardless of the day of the week on which it falls.

COLOPHON

Sources

How we know what’s on this page. References, not endorsements.

19sources
17primary records
18independently dated
Primary records
U.S. Government Publishing Office1954
United States Statutes at Large, Volume 68, Page 168 (Public Law 380, June 1, 1954)
The one-sentence law that replaced Armistice with Veterans, printed in full.
View source
U.S. Government Publishing Office1938
United States Statutes at Large, Volume 52, Page 351 (ch. 210, May 13, 1938)
The act making November 11 a legal public holiday named Armistice Day.
View source
U.S. Government Publishing Office1926
United States Statutes at Large, Volume 44, Pages 1982-1983 (S. Con. Res. 18, June 4, 1926)
The resolution asking for an annual November 11 proclamation, with its twenty-seven-state preamble.
View source
U.S. Government Publishing Office1926
United States Statutes at Large, Volume 44, Page 1983
The closing page of the 1926 concurrent resolution on the Armistice anniversary.
View source
U.S. Government Publishing Office1968
United States Statutes at Large, Volume 82, Page 250 (Public Law 90-363, June 28, 1968)
The Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which set Veterans Day on the fourth Monday in October.
View source
U.S. Government Publishing Office1975
United States Statutes at Large, Volume 89, Page 479 (Public Law 94-97, September 18, 1975)
The law returning Veterans Day to November 11, effective January 1, 1978.
View source
Gerald R. Ford Presidential LibrarySeptember 1975
White House Records Office: Legislation Case Files, Box 30, folder 9/18/75 S331 Veterans Day on November 11
The internal White House file behind the 1975 law, agency letters and committee report included.
View source
Library of Congress1954
Federal Register, Vol. 19, No. 198, October 12, 1954: Proclamation 3071, Veterans Day, 1954
Eisenhower's first Veterans Day proclamation as published, creating the national committee.
View source
Office of the Law Revision Counsel, U.S. House of Representatives2026
5 U.S.C. 6103: Holidays
The current list of federal legal public holidays, with both effective-date notes and Executive Order 11582.
View source
Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State1919
Foreign Relations of the United States, The Paris Peace Conference, 1919, Volume II, Document 1: Terms of the Armistice With Germany
The armistice text itself, with its 5 a.m. signature line and its 36-day duration clause.
View source
The American Presidency Project, UC Santa Barbara1975
Gerald R. Ford: Statement on Signing a Bill Redesignating November 11 as Veterans Day
Ford's statement of September 20, 1975, released at San Francisco, with an editorial note on the approval date.
View source
Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, National Archives1982
Remarks on Presenting the Presidential Citizens Medal to Raymond Weeks at a Veterans Day Ceremony
The White House ceremony of November 11, 1982 honoring Raymond Weeks of Birmingham, Alabama.
View source
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs2024-06
History of Veterans Day
The department's own account of the 1919, 1926, 1938, 1954, 1968, 1971 and 1975 stages.
View source
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs2024-09
Veterans Day Facts and Information
Why the name takes no apostrophe, how the day differs from Memorial Day, and where poppies belong.
View source
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs2026-06
Veterans Day
The national ceremony at Arlington, the national committee, and the annual poster competition.
View source
U.S. Census Bureau2025-11
Veterans Day 2025: November 11 (Facts for Features, CB25-FF.10)
How many US veterans there were in 2024, broken out by sex, age and period of service.
View source
Federal Register2026-09
Presidential documents matching the term Veterans Day
The online index of presidential documents, which reaches back to 1994.
View source
Additional coverage
Library of Congress
Today in History: November 11
How November 11 was marked between the world wars in the United States, Britain and France.
View source
Library of Congress, Teaching with the Library2023-11
Remembering Armistice Day with a Speech from Woodrow Wilson
Wilson's radio address of November 10, 1923 and its place in the National Recording Registry.
View source
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