Who Started the Presidential Turkey Pardon Tradition?

At Thanksgiving, the White House is where all turkeys want to be

One of Thanksgiving’s most lighthearted traditions is the presidential pardoning of one lucky turkey.

But fans of this classic Thanksgiving custom might be surprised to learn it originated long before the television and PR-friendly events that we recognize today.

The history of a turkey being spared in the White House goes back to the presidency of Abraham Lincoln and is centered on President Lincoln’s young son Tad. In late 1863, the Lincoln family received the gift of a live turkey to provide their Christmas dinner. Tad befriended the turkey, named him “Jack,” and argued that the bird had a right to live. President Lincoln, as he often did, gave in, and even wrote the turkey a formal reprieve, which he gifted to Tad, along with the turkey.

1863 was also the year that President Lincoln first proclaimed that the holiday would always be celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November, but Thanksgiving was not recognized that year by the Confederate States of America (as it was the height of the Civil War). Thanksgiving would not be celebrated by the entire nation, together, until many years later.

It took another eighty years before turkeys became presidential public relations fodder again. In 1947, the National Turkey Federation gifted a live bird to President Harry Truman and his family for their holiday meal. President Eisenhower, who took office after Truman, also received turkeys from the Federation.

When given a Thanksgiving turkey on November 19, 1963, by the California Turkey Advisory Board, President John F. Kennedy did not officially pardon it but held a pre-Thanksgiving ceremony in the Rose Garden where he announced that he would not eat it. In news stories about the event, reporters quoted the president as saying, “Let’s keep him going.” In a tragic turn of events, Kennedy was assassinated on November 22 of that same year, just days before the country celebrated one of its most somber Thanksgiving Days in history.

By the time President Ronald Reagan was receiving gift turkeys during his tenure in office in the 1980s, a new tradition of sending such gift birds to farms, petting zoos, and other sanctuaries was well-established. President Reagan did not officially pardon any of the turkeys before they went sent to live out their happy retirements, but in 1987 he did joke that, given the chance, he “would have pardoned him.” At that time President Reagan’s administration was under a cloud due to the Iran-Contra scandal and the possibility of his pardoning key players in that affair; joking about the turkey helped him deflect press questions.

Not until 1989, more than one hundred years after Tad Lincoln advocated for a reprieve for his new turkey pet, did a president offer a full and official presidential pardon. In that year, President George H.W. Bush spoke these playful words at the annual Thanksgiving turkey-receiving event:

“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.”

In 2022 President Biden pardoned a pair of turkeys named Chocolate and Chip. The practice of pardoning two turkeys — one turkey and one alternate turkey — brings with it another tradition, the “pairing” of their names, and the submission of those name pairs by members of the public. Previous name pairs have included “Flyer and Fryer,” “Cobbler and Gobbler,” and “Tot and Tater.”

American presidents may pardon their turkeys, but most Americans celebrating the holiday are clearly enjoying theirs at their Thanksgiving meals. It has been estimated that 9 out of 10 Americans eat turkey on November’s fourth Thursday, and an estimated 46 million turkeys are consumed each year on Thanksgiving.