Veterans Day was moved to a Monday under the Uniform Monday Holiday Act in 1971.
The act was designed to create more three-day weekends by shifting several federal holidays to Mondays. Veterans Day was scheduled for the fourth Monday in October, beginning in 1971. The change separated the federal observance from the historically important November 11 date.
Many veterans’ organizations opposed the move because November 11 had deep symbolic meaning tied to the 1918 armistice. Public support for restoring the traditional date grew, and Congress passed legislation in 1975 to return Veterans Day to November 11. The restoration took effect in 1978.
The episode explains why older sources may describe Veterans Day as an October holiday while current calendars show November 11. The date was changed for scheduling reasons, not because the historical meaning of the armistice had changed.