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 domestic turkey, usually of the Broad Breasted White variety. 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" and thus is spared from being slaughtered.

History and details of ceremony

The origins of the tradition of pardoning the White House turkey are unclear. 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. 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 did not grant a "pardon." The bird was wearing a sign reading, "Good Eatin' Mr. President." Kennedy responded, "Let's just keep him." President Ronald Reagan deflected questions in 1987 about pardoning Oliver North in the Iran-Contra affair by joking about pardoning a turkey named Charlie, who was already heading to a petting zoo.

Since 1989 when the custom of 'pardoning' the turkey was formalized, the turkey has been taken to a farm where it will 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 been sent to either the Disneyland Resort in California or the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, where they serve as the honorary grand marshals of Disney's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

List of turkeys pardoned

2002: George W. Bush pardoned the first-ever female turkey in the ceremony, Katie, a 30-pound bird bred by Ron Prestage, Chairman of the National Turkey Federation, as well as alternate bird "Zack". The turkeys were named after Prestage's children.
2005: Bush pardoned "Marshmallow" and alternate bird "Yam", raised in Henning, Minnesota. Beginning 2005 pardoned birds were sent to Disneyland to live, and serve as the "honorary grand marshal" of that year's thanksgiving day parade, following concerns raised by animal rights objections that the birds had not survived for long. For the previous 15 years they had been sent to Frying Pan Park near Herndon, Virginia. Names were generally chosen in online votes taken at the White House website.
2006: Bush pardoned "Flyer" and alternate bird "Fryer", raised in Missouri.
2007: Bush pardoned 45-pound "May" and backup "Flower", raised in Indiana.
2008: Bush pardoned 45-pound backup "vice" turkey named "Pumpkin", after the number one turkey "Pecan" fell ill the night before the ceremony. Both turkeys were allowed to live.
2009: Barack Obama pardoned "Courage", a 45-pound turkey provided by the National Turkey Federation, and alternate bird "Carolina", raised in North Carolina.

State ceremonies

A number of U.S. states have similar turkey-pardoning events, including Minnesota.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia