On November 9, 1959—just two-and-a-half weeks before Thanksgiving—the U.S. secretary of Health, Education and Welfare made a startling announcement: some cranberries grown in the Pacific Northwest may have been contaminated by a weed killer that could lead to cancer in rats. This meant that cranberry sauce, a popular staple of Thanksgiving dinners, might not be on the menu anymore.

“If housewives are unable to determine where berries were grown,” the New York Times reported, “the Government advises them not to buy, either in canned or fresh form, despite the approach of Thanksgiving.”

Thus began the cranberry scare of 1959, a crisis that temporarily crashed the cranberry market and sent Americans scrambling for alternative fruit-based dishes for Thanksgiving (Life magazine provided a few interesting suggestions, including pickled watermelon rind).

The day after Thanksgiving, the Associated Press informed curious readers that, like many Americans, President Dwight D. Eisenhower and First Lady Mamie Eisenhower had gone without cranberry sauce at their holiday table. But instead of pickled watermelon rind, they just had applesauce.