History of Presidential Turkey Pardons

Thanksgiving is an occasion often cloaked more in legend than fact. And the idea of a presidential pardon for the Thanksgiving turkey is just one colorful aspect of the legend. As the story goes, Abe Lincoln was the first president to spare a turkey. But in this case, a Christmas turkey was spared after Lincoln’s son, Tad, begged for the bird’s life. In this case, the bird went on to become a family pet.

The tradition of gifting a sitting president a turkey goes back to Horace Vose, a Rhode Island turkey farmer. He began the tradition with Ulysses S. Grant in 1873 and continued through Woodrow Wilson in 1913. Since then, a number of people and groups have given turkeys to the sitting president. That said, it was not an official annual event until 1947 under Harry S. Truman.

However, none of those recipients spared the birds. It wasn’t until 1963 that John F. Kennedy was the first president to spare a Thanksgiving turkey. At the official presentation ceremony, the president was presented with a massive 55-pound (25 kg) turkey wearing a sign reading, “Good Eating, Mr. President.” And President Kennedy said, “We’ll let this one grow,” sending it back to the farm. While some newspapers referred to it as a pardon, Kennedy did not.

Going forward, Richard Nixon and then First Lady Rosalynn Carter arranged to have the turkeys sent to petting zoos. But no official pardons were granted. In fact, the first president to mention the word pardon was Ronald Reagan in 1987. This was at the height of the Iran-Contra affair. And while being peppered with questions about pardoning Oliver North, President Reagan deflected with a joke about pardoning the Thanksgiving turkey he received.

What seems like a tradition for as long as we can remember was not actually formalized until 1989 with George H. W. Bush. At that time, President Bush quipped: “But let me assure you, and this fine tom turkey, that he will not end up on anyone’s dinner table, not this guy—he’s presented a presidential pardon as of right now—and allow him to live out his days on a children’s farm not far from here.” And it has been an annual tradition ever since.