The tradition of giving a turkey to a president before Thanksgiving goes back farther than you think. According to some sources, all the way back to Honest Abe Lincoln and the tradition has continued all the way up to President Donald Trump.
There are really two traditions: giving the president a turkey and pardoning the turkey.
Lincoln offered a turkey “clemency” instead of a pardon during the Civil War, so most sources don’t count his as a pardon, but others do.
Most historians agree that the practice of sending turkeys to presidents had become a tradition by the 1870s. But not all turkeys given to the White House got a pardon. Many of them ended up being Thanksgiving dinner.
By the 1920s, sending animals to presidents was a big deal. Some arrived in fancy cages and costumes. And not only turkeys. Calvin Coolidge got quail, ducks, geese, rabbits and a deer.
The most unusual animal he received was a raccoon. The raccoon was neither pardoned nor eaten, but became the Coolidge’s beloved family pet.
By the 1940s, farmers and poultry producers began sending all types of birds to the White House as a way of promoting their industry.
And it’s a big deal. The turkeys are raised to not be afraid of adults or children, crowd noises and flashing lights on cameras. They are also taught from a young age how to sit calmly on a table for the presentation to the president.
I wanted to find out about some more-recently pardoned turkeys. What actually happened to the turkeys in 2019 is a little murky in the history department. Some sources say the turkeys are still alive and others say they are no longer with us.
The turkeys given to President Trump in 2018 are still very much alive. After they were pardoned, the turkeys, named “Peas” and “Carrots,” made their way to their new home at Virginia Tech’s “Gobblers Rest” exhibit in Blacksburg, Virginia.
At Gobblers Rest, students and veterinarians with Virginia Tech’s Department of Animal and Poultry Sciences in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences care for the turkeys.
The National Thanksgiving Turkeys are available for the public to visit and learn about the university’s teaching, research and outreach programs in animal and poultry sciences and veterinary medicine.
So presidents have been receiving turkeys and other animals for a long time. Which president was the first to actually give a pardon?
Difficult to say. The official presentation of giving a turkey to the president began in 1949 with Harry Truman. But this was just a Thanksgiving gift tradition, not a pardon. And many of those given were eaten.
Most sources say either Ronald Reagan or George H.W. Bush was first. But whichever one it was, the tradition of pardoning turkeys has continued ever since.
So will you act presidentially and pardon your turkey this year? I personally can’t wait to eat mine.—KWC
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