How a Kansas Cobbler Helped Invent Veterans Day

There might be no Veterans Day if not for a shoe repairman from Kansas, who brought his idea of a holiday to honor all American veterans to his local council. Just a year later, in 1954, President Eisenhower officially renamed Nov. 11 from Armistice Day to Veterans Day, expanding the holiday's focus. Mental Floss digs into the story, noting Alvin King from Emporia, Kansas, had lost family in World War II and felt that Armistice Day, marked annually to commemorate the 1918 agreement that ended the First World War, didn't suitably honor all those who'd fought for their country in later wars.

He formed a committee and, in 1953, convinced the city of Emporia to adopt his idea. It resonated with local congressman Ed Rees, who took it back to Capitol Hill, where it caught the attention of Eisenhower, himself a Kansan. Eisenhower agreed to sign legislation officially renaming the holiday, but that put King in a pickle. Though he was invited to the signing, he didn't own a suit. In the end, his veteran friends pooled funds to buy him one, and covered his traffic expenses, to boot. Nearly a half-century later, Congress officially recognized Emporia as the founding city of Veterans Day. The city now hosts Veterans Day events over the course of a week, according to its tourism page.