On June 28, 1919, World War I officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. The actual fighting between the Allies and Germany, however, had ended seven months earlier with the armistice, which went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918. November 11 thus became Armistice Day, the first of which was proclaimed by President Woodrow Wilson in 1919.

Armistice Day officially became a holiday in the United States in 1926 and a national holiday in 1938. On June 1, 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed legislation changing the name to Veterans Day to honor all US veterans. In 1968, new legislation changed the national commemoration of Veterans Day to the fourth Monday in October. However, November 11 was a significant historic date to many Americans. Since the change to the fourth Monday in October, 46 states had either continued to commemorate November 11 or had reverted back to the original date based on popular sentiment. In 1978, Congress returned the observance to its traditional date.