by Tom Emery
Each year just before Thanksgiving, the President ceremoniously pardons a turkey, a light-hearted moment in his otherwise grueling schedule. The tradition is traced to Abraham Lincoln, who wrote a pardon at the behest of his youngest son, Tad, in 1863.
Though the origin is debated, many researchers believe that Lincoln was the first to bestow a Presidential pardon on a turkey, thus saving it from the dinner table. The reprieve, though, was actually issued at Christmas.
In late 1863, the Lincolns received a turkey as a gift, and though the bird was intended for Christmas dinner, nine-year-old Tad, an animal lover, had other ideas. He made a pet of the bird, which he named Jack, and taught the bird to follow him around the White House grounds.
On Christmas Eve, the President tried to tell his son that the bird would become the family dinner. Upset, Tad reportedly cried, “I can’t help it. He’s a good turkey, and I don’t want him killed.” Lincoln gave in and wrote out a pardon on a card, which he handed to his son to appease him.
“Tad was begging for the turkey’s life,” said Dr. Wayne Temple, an accomplished Lincoln scholar who recently retired as Deputy Director of the Illinois State Archives in Springfield. “Lincoln was always looking for something to amuse the children, so he pardoned the turkey.”
The President’s playfulness reflected other episodes with his children. In 1861, he had written a pardon for a soldier doll, also named Jack, that Tad and older brother Willie (who died the next February) had sentenced to death.
In 1997, Bill Clinton referenced Lincoln’s story in ceremonies to pardon a sixty-pounder named Willis. George W. Bush also made reference to Lincoln’s pardon in 2001.
“Lincoln is probably the only President with the sense of humor to pardon a turkey,” laughed Temple. “Other Presidents have been more serious-minded, but that’s how Lincoln could be.”
Some of Lincoln’s successors have shown less inclination. After President Obama’s first turkey pardon in 2009, one commentator found that the chief executive “did not seem all that thrilled with his role”. Seven years before, when a female turkey – a thirty-pound gobbler named Katie – was pardoned for the first time, G. W. Bush absentmindedly twice called the bird “he.”
While many researchers credit Lincoln as the first President to issue a turkey pardon, others cite Harry S. Truman, who was the first to receive a gift bird from the National Turkey Federation in 1947. However, officials at the Truman Presidential Library in Missouri have found no evidence of any pardons given by Truman to a turkey.
His successor, Dwight D. Eisenhower, ate each of the birds given to him during his eight years in office. Four days before his assassination in 1963, John F. Kennedy offhandedly said of a 55-pound gift turkey, “we’ll let this one grow.”
The first President on record to deliver a pardon was Ronald Reagan in 1987, allegedly to draw attention from reporters’ questions on the Iran-Contra affair. No turkeys were spared the following year, but in 1989, Reagan’s successor, George H.W. Bush, instituted the pardon as an annual rite.
Two turkeys are normally chosen for the ceremony, one serving as an alternate, to stand in if the first bird cannot fulfill the duties. In 2008, Bush pardoned the backup, Pumpkin, after the top turkey, Pecan, came down sick the night before the ceremony.
In recent years, reprieved turkeys have been sent to various locations in Virginia, including George Washington’s estate at Mount Vernon and a place in Fairfax County called Frying Pan Park. From 2005-09, the turkeys were flown first-class to Disneyland to serve as grand marshals of Disney’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Today, the annual ceremony to pardon the turkey usually lasts a few minutes and provides a prime photo opportunity for the President and members of his family. The White House frequently invites children to join the ceremony, adding to the holiday festivities.
Tom Emery is a freelance writer and historical researcher from Carlinville, Ill. He may be reached at 217-710-8392 or [email protected].
