National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation facts for kids
The National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation is a ceremony that takes place at the White House every year shortly before Thanksgiving. The president of the United States is presented with a live domestic turkey by the National Turkey Federation (NTF), usually males of the Broad Breasted White variety. The early years also included a joint presentation with the Poultry and Egg National Board. The ceremony dates back to the 1940s; these turkeys were usually slaughtered and eaten (with some exceptions) prior to the 1970s, when it became standard practice to spare the turkey. During the Presidency of George H. W. Bush, it became a tradition (since carried on by all of Bush's successors) for the president to issue a ceremonial "pardon" to the turkey. It is a tradition that the turkeys be picked from the chairperson of the NTF's home state, occasionally from the chair's own farm.
History
Turkeys had been donated to the President as gifts from private citizens. Horace Vose, a Rhode Island turkey farmer, presented a dressed turkey to the President each year from 1873 until his death in 1913. In 1913, South Trimble, a Kentucky farmer and Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, presented a turkey to then-President Woodrow Wilson that year, convinced that his red pepper-fed but smaller turkey tasted better than Vose's; no record survives of which turkey Wilson chose. This, along with Vose's death that December, set off a free-for-all in which numerous farmers tried to be the one to supply the annual holiday turkeys to the President. The rivalry escalated in the Roaring Twenties, with a group of women Warren G. Harding supporters from Chicago sending Harding turkeys (including in 1920 when he was still President-Elect and at the Panama Canal Zone; the turkey was delivered by train), while Cuero, Texas also sent Wilson and Harding turkeys. The Cuero turkeys were notable for being the first to be sent while still alive; the Wilson administration slaughtered and ate the bird. Calvin Coolidge, alarmed at the number of turkeys being offered to the President at the time, briefly stopped the tradition upon assuming office in 1923 and chose to buy his own turkey; he relented in 1925 and was soon bombarded with an unusual array of animals to eat, including Rebecca, a live raccoon that Coolidge received in 1926 and, unwilling to eat it, designated as a White House pet.
The official presentation of a turkey to the President each year began in 1947 under President Harry S. Truman. The presentation was partially borne out of a lobbying campaign: the Truman Administration, in an effort to conserve grain for foreign aid campaigns, began promoting "Meatless Tuesdays" and "Poultryless Thursdays" in the autumn of 1947. Not only did American citizens quickly grow frustrated with the (voluntary, but strongly encouraged) restrictions and begin disregarding them in short order, the National Poultry and Egg Board, incensed at the attack on their industry, noted that not only was Thanksgiving on a Thursday (thus making the annual Thanksgiving turkey a taboo), but Christmas and New Year's Day also landed on a Thursday that year. A truce was called in the dispute in early November, before the Thanksgiving holiday, but "Eggless Thursdays" continued to be promoted for the rest of the year, meaning that pumpkin pie, another Thanksgiving staple, was still on the forbidden foods list. Records on file at the Truman Library show that Truman publicly admitted eating at least some of the turkeys.
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 November 19, 1963, just three days before his assassination. The bird was wearing a sign reading, "Good Eating Mr. President". Kennedy returned the massive 55-pound (25 kg) turkey to the farm, saying "we'll let this one grow." Scattered reports in The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times referred to it as a pardon, but Kennedy did not refer to it as such. Likewise, Richard Nixon also spared some of the turkeys given to him during his time as president. During the Carter administration, First Lady Rosalynn Carter arranged to have the turkeys sent to petting zoos, and no public ceremonies were held.
The first President on record issuing a "pardon" to his turkey was Ronald Reagan. Reagan had been sending the turkeys presented to him to farms and zoos since at least 1982, and 1987's turkey, Charlie, was likewise headed to a petting zoo. At the time, Reagan was facing questions over the Iran-Contra affair, on whether or not he would consider pardoning Oliver North (who had yet to be tried for his involvement in the affair); Reagan conjured the notion of the turkey pardon as a joke to deflect those questions. Reagan did not make any pardon references in the 1988 presentation, but his successor, George H. W. Bush, instituted the turkey pardon as a permanent part of the presentation beginning his first year in office, 1989. The phrase "presidential pardon" in that ceremony was apparently inserted by a speechwriter; Bush initially was indifferent to the terminology, saying "'Reprieve', 'keep him going', or 'pardon': it's all the same for the turkey, as long as he doesn't end up on the president's holiday table."
For many years the turkeys were sent to Frying Pan Farm Park in Fairfax County, Virginia. From 2005 to 2009, the pardoned turkeys were sent to either the Disneyland Resort in California or the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, where they served as the honorary grand marshals of Disney's Thanksgiving Day Parade. In 2010, 2011 and 2012, the turkeys were sent to live at Mount Vernon, the estate and home of George Washington; Mount Vernon stopped displaying and accepting the turkeys due to the fact that they violated the estate's policy of maintaining its own historical accuracy (Washington never farmed turkeys). The 2013, 2014 and 2015 turkeys were sent to Morven Park in Leesburg, Virginia, the estate of former Virginia governor (and prolific turkey farmer) Westmoreland Davis. Virginia Tech has housed the turkeys from 2016 to 2019; Virginia Tech was chosen because of the college's poultry science program, and the National Turkey Federation wanted to begin a tradition of cooperation between the turkey industry and universities. After four successful years at Virginia Tech, the alma mater of the chairman of the NTF at the time, the federation chose to begin housing the turkeys at universities closer to the turkeys' home towns. The 2020 turkeys were sent to be housed at Iowa State University and the 2021 turkeys are bound for Purdue University.
Traditionally, the speech accompanying the pardon includes substantial political satire as the President pokes fun at scandals of the day.
Selection process
The turkeys are raised in the same fashion as turkeys designated for slaughter and are fed a grain-heavy diet of fortified corn and soybeans to increase the birds' size. A flock of between 50 and 80 birds, typically from the farm of the current National Turkey Federation chairperson, are selected to be acclimated to handle loud noises, flash photography and large crowds; from the flock, the 10 to 20 best-preened and best-behaved are chosen and eventually narrowed down to two finalists, whose names are chosen by the White House staff from suggestions by school children from the state where they were raised. The two finalists are then transported to Washington, where they stay at the Willard InterContinental Washington Hotel at National Turkey Federation expense before being pardoned in a ceremony at the White House. Turkey hens are usually marketed at 14 weeks and weigh 15.5 pounds (7.0 kg) when processed. This compares to the tom, which takes 18 weeks to reach a market weight of 38 pounds (17 kg). The turkeys for the National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation are usually 21 week-old toms (males) weighing 45 pounds (20 kg) by the time of their White House visit, compared to the shorter growing period for turkeys destined for market.
Broad Breasted White turkeys are bred for large size, are sedentary animals and have a predilection for overeating, making them prone to health problems associated with obesity such as heart disease, respiratory failure, joint damage and reduced life spans compared to wild or heritage turkeys. For many years, the pardoned turkeys were documented to have very short lives after their pardoning, frequently dying within a year of being pardoned; for comparison, heritage turkey breeds have lifespans on par with those of wild turkeys, at least five years. The lifespans of the pardoned turkeys have steadily improved in recent years, frequently having lifespans of over two years and occasionally reaching three years of age, an improvement attributed to better choices of homes after the pardons; rather than serving solely as tourist attractions, the turkeys are now placed in the care of experts who make conscious efforts to maintain the turkeys' health for as long as possible.
State ceremonies
A number of U.S. states have similar turkey-pardoning events, including Minnesota. The pardoning ceremonies have also been extended to other holidays; for instance, Erie County, New York's county executive facetiously pardons a butter lamb during Holy Week.
Gallery
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President Harry Truman receiving a turkey (this one a Bronze) from the turkey industry, 1949
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President John F. Kennedy spares the turkey presented to him, 1963, only three days before his assassination
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President Lyndon Johnson accepting a non-pardoned turkey, 1967
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President Richard Nixon sparing the turkey presented to him, 1971
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First Lady Pat Nixon accepting a turkey on behalf of her husband, 1973
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President Gerald Ford accepting a non-pardoned turkey, 1975
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President Ronald Reagan accepting a turkey, 1983
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President George H. W. Bush at the 3rd annual pardoning of the Thanksgiving turkey, 1991
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President Bill Clinton at the 11th annual pardoning of the Thanksgiving turkey, 1999
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President George W. Bush at the 20th annual pardoning of the Thanksgiving turkey, 2008
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President Barack Obama pardoning a turkey called "Courage" on November 25, 2009
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President Donald Trump pardoning a turkey called "Butter" on November 26, 2019
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President Joe Biden pardoning a turkey called "Peanut Butter" on November 19, 2021
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See also
In Spanish: Presentación del pavo de acción de gracias nacional para niños
