Most Americans have heard of the Presidential Turkey Pardon, but what’s the real story? How did it get started? And which president was the first to let his turkey off the hook (or out of the oven, as it may be)? Here are some facts to set the record straight:
- In 1947, the National Turkey Federation and the Poultry and Egg National Board started the tradition of donating a turkey to the White House every year. However, they originally gave the birds for Christmas, not Thanksgiving.
- President Harry Truman was the first president to receive a turkey, and it became his dinner.
- President George H.W. Bush was the first president to show a little mercy in 1989: “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 been granted a presidential pardon as of right now.”
- President Bill Clinton believed that each of the eight turkeys he met during his terms had distinct personalities.
- The pardoned turkeys resided in Frying Pan Park in Virginia until 2005. Since then they have been sent to Disneyland to live.
- In 2005, President George W. Bush started sending his turkeys to live out their days in Disneyland, where the birds were, in their own years, named Grand Marshall of the Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Disneyland has too many reprieved turkeys and won't take any more... They can send it to my house, and we'll eat it!! LOL
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