Why did national day of prayer start?

Answer 1

First, throughout history, American presidents asked citizens to observe a day of prayer, often during a very difficult time (like a war). But it was not until 1952, during the Cold War, that the National Day of Prayer became an actual formalized event. There are many reasons for it, but probably it was seen as an important gesture for religious conservatives, especially during a time when the American government wanted to show it was a Godly nation, as opposed to the Soviet Union, which was a nation of atheists.

Presidents have treated the National Day of Prayer in a variety of ways: since America has separation of church and state, no president has tried to force Americans to pray more. But some presidents who were very religious themselves made the observance more public: this was especially true of President George W. Bush. Other presidents were more private in their own observance, and while they did not discourage the event, they also did not have a public event on that day, instead leaving it up to individual churches, temples, and mosques to decide how best to observe the occasion.