National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation
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National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation is a ceremony that takes place at the White House every year. The President of the United States is presented with a live turkey. Generally the National Turkey Federation and the Poultry and Egg National Board are involved. Since 1989 during the first Thanksgiving of President George H.W. Bush, the president has granted the turkey a "presidential pardon".[1] The turkey is then taken to a farm where it may live out the rest of its natural life. For many years the turkeys were sent to Frying Pan Park in Fairfax County, Virginia. Starting in 2005, the pardoned turkeys have traveled to either Disneyland in California or Disney World in Florida to be the honorary Grand Marshals of Disney's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
The origins of the tradition of pardoning the White House turkey is controversial. Many credit President Harry Truman with starting the informal and lighthearted tradition in 1947. However, the Truman Library says that no documents, speeches, newspaper clippings, photographs, or other contemporary records are known to exist that specify that he ever "pardoned" a turkey.[2][1] The Eisenhower Presidential Library says documents in their collection reveal that President Dwight Eisenhower ate the birds presented to him during his two terms. President John F. Kennedy spontaneously spared a turkey on Nov. 19, 1963, just days before his assassination, but was not granted a "pardon." The bird was wearing a sign reading, "Good Eatin' Mr. President." Kennedy responded, "Let's just keep him." President Ronald Reagan, while never officially pardoning a turkey, did deflect jokes in 1987 about pardoning Oliver North in the Iran-Contra Affair by joking about pardoning a bird name Charlie, who was already heading to a petting zoo.[1]
The National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation is depicted in the 30th episode of The West Wing, "Shibboleth".
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b c Hesse, Monica. 2007. Turkey Pardons, The Stuffing of Historic Legend. The Washington Post, November 21. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/20/AR2007112002331.html?sub=AR&sid=ST2007112002354 (accessed November 22, 2007).
- ^ Edwards, Cynthia. 2003. Did Truman pardon a Turkey? http://www.trumanlibrary.org/trivia/turkey.htm (accessed November 24, 2007).
[edit] External links
- Official photo gallery of Presidents pardoning Turkeys
- President Abraham Lincoln Pardoned Jack, the White House Turkey
- Truman Trivia: Did Truman pardon a Turkey?
- The Ungobbled Gobbler
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