The turkey pardon: A quirky White House custom
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President Trump pardoned Gobble and Waddle, two North Carolina turkeys with spotless records on Tuesday, continuing a White House tradition of cementing the poultry in American history.
Why it matters: The now infamous Thanksgiving custom has a tangled background peppered with protests, pranks and a Turkey lobby more effective than the mob.
Here's what to know about presidential turkey pardons:
Can't disappoint the children
Abraham Lincoln is frequently credited with pardoning the first turkey after a supporter sent it to him in 1863, according to the White House Historical Association.
- Lincoln's son Tad later begged his father to grant the bird mercy, and the president declared the last Thursday in November to be regularly commemorated as Thanksgiving that same year.
An alternate origin story
President Harry Truman is the first president to receive a turkey at an official White House ceremony.
Flashback: Truman was encouraging Americans to participate in "Poultryless Thursdays" to save grain in postwar America in the 1940s.
- Furious at the effort, the industry sent crates of live chickens to the White House in protest, in an effort known as "Hens for Harry."
- The National Turkey Federation and the Poultry and Egg National Board, collectively "Big Turkey," presented Truman with a 47-pound turkey that healed the rift and created today's well-known photo-op.
The first pardon at an official ceremony
President John F. Kennedy was gifted a 55-pound white turkey in 1963 with a sign around its neck that said "Good eating, Mr. President."
- Kennedy never officially called his actions a pardoning, but remarked to Big Turkey: "We'll just let this one grow," before sending the bird back to its California farm.
- The event was not widely publicized as Kennedy was assassinated days later.
The modern-day pardoning
On the 200th anniversary of George Washington's Thanksgiving Day Proclamation, President George H.W. Bush officially formalized the pardon tradition as we know it now.
- "Our special guest seems . . . understandably nervous, 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 granted a Presidential pardon as of right now," Bush said.
- Trump remarked of the "big day" in the White House Rose Garden on Tuesday: "I hope all Americans will have the chance to enjoy the fellowship of family and friends ... and we pray that peace and prosperity will continue to bless our land."
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