The history of the White House turkey pardonpublished at 16:46 GMT 25 November
Image source, Bettmann via Getty ImagesImage caption,
President Harry Truman receiving two gift turkeys from the Poultry and Egg National Board in 1948.
The tradition can be traced back to President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 – historians claim he spared a turkey’s life after his son, Tad, befriended it.
But yearly pardoning became an “official” tradition only under George H W Bush, when the former president spared a turkey’s life in 1989 as animal-rights activists protested nearby.
“‘Reprieve,’ ‘keep him going’, or ‘pardon’: it’s all the same for the turkey, as long as he doesn’t end up on the president’s holiday table,” Bush said.
Other presidents before H W Bush did spare birds’ lives, including President John F Kennedy, who gave an unofficial pardoning days before his assassination in 1963.
Individual farms had been gifting presidents birds since the 19th century, but it wasn’t until 1947 when Harry Truman became the first president to turn the gifting of the birds into a regular photo opportunity.
Truman’s government launched a campaign in 1947 to encourage people to forego eating poultry and eggs on Thursdays, in order to conserve supplies to send to post-war Europe. But Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day all fell on Thursdays that year causing outrage.
Image source, Smith Collection/Gado/Getty ImagesImage caption,
President John F Kennedy and Senator Everett M Dirksen receive a Thanksgiving turkey from the Poultry and Egg National Board at the White House in 1963
