White House backtracks on renaming Veterans Day

A day after President Donald Trump announced he was renaming Nov. 11 -- the date that Veterans Day is observed -- as "Victory Day for World War I," the White House is now saying it will be an additional proclamation and not a full replacement.

"We are not renaming Veteran's Day," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told ABC News. "It will just be an additional proclamation that goes out on that day."

In his social media post on Thursday, Trump also said he intended to designate May 8 as "Victory Day for World War II."

"We won both Wars, nobody was close to us in terms of strength, bravery, or military brilliance, but we never celebrate anything - That's because we don't have leaders anymore, that know how to do so! We are going to start celebrating our victories again!," Trump wrote.

Establishing a federal holiday or a patriotic or national observance requires the passage of a law, according to the Congressional Research Service. Lawmakers created "Armistice Day" in 1938 to commemorate World War I. Then, in 1954 after World War II and the Korean War, they renamed it "Veterans Day" at the urging of veterans groups.

ABC News' Michelle Stoddart contributed to this report.