Every November, shortly before Thanksgiving, an unusually fortunate turkey arrives at the White House.
There are cameras. There are speeches. There are usually jokes. And at some point, the president announces that the bird has been “pardoned,” sparing it from an imagined fate as the centerpiece of Thanksgiving dinner.
It feels like the sort of eccentric American tradition that must date back centuries.
The real story is much stranger.
Abraham Lincoln is connected to an early story about a turkey spared at his son’s request. Presidents began receiving holiday turkeys regularly in the late 19th century. Harry S. Truman helped turn poultry-industry presentations into White House media events, but contrary to a persistent legend, there is no evidence that Truman began the turkey pardon.
John F. Kennedy publicly spared a turkey in 1963. Ronald Reagan sent presented turkeys to farms and petting zoos and joked about pardoning one in 1987. Finally, in 1989, George H. W. Bush explicitly announced that the Thanksgiving turkey had received a “presidential pardon,” firmly establishing the annual version of the ceremony familiar today.
The presidential turkey pardon is therefore less an ancient tradition than a tradition that accumulated gradually—one turkey, photograph, joke, and presidential reprieve at a time.
🦃 Presidents Were Getting Turkeys Long Before They Pardoned Them
Turkeys have been arriving at the White House since at least the late 19th century.
Farmers, poultry producers, organizations, and ordinary citizens sometimes sent birds to presidents as holiday gifts. The White House Historical Association traces such turkey gifts back to the 1870s, decades before anyone established a formal pardoning ceremony.
These birds were not symbolic guests of honor.
They were food.
Sending a particularly impressive turkey to the president was a way for a farmer or poultry producer to showcase a prized bird while participating in the holiday traditions surrounding the presidency.
Over time, photographers and reporters turned the presentation itself into a public event.
But the turkey’s prospects were considerably less cheerful than they are in the modern ceremony.
🎩 Did Abraham Lincoln Pardon the First Turkey?
Abraham Lincoln inevitably appears in stories about the origin of the presidential turkey pardon.
There really is an old story behind the connection—but it was not the modern Thanksgiving ceremony.
According to an account by journalist Noah Brooks published after Lincoln’s death, a live turkey had been acquired for the Lincoln family’s Christmas dinner. Lincoln’s young son Tad became attached to the bird and pleaded for its life.
The turkey was spared.
The White House Historical Association cites the episode as an early example of a presidential family saving a holiday turkey, but it did not establish an annual White House pardon.
It is better understood as a charming family anecdote that later became attached to the much newer Thanksgiving tradition.
Lincoln does have a much more important connection with Thanksgiving itself. On October 3, 1863, during the Civil War, he issued a proclamation calling for the last Thursday in November to be observed as a national day of thanksgiving.
The holiday and the turkey-pardon ceremony therefore have separate histories that eventually became intertwined.
🐔 The Surprisingly Complicated Truman Story
Harry S. Truman is frequently identified online as the president who began pardoning Thanksgiving turkeys in 1947.
He didn’t.
The Truman Presidential Library has specifically investigated the story and reports that it has found no contemporary documents, speeches, newspaper accounts, or photographs showing Truman pardoning a turkey in 1947—or at any other point during his presidency. The library notes that Truman sometimes indicated that presented turkeys were destined for the family dinner table.
So why does 1947 matter?
Because the Truman administration played an important role in turning turkey presentations into the recurring presidential event from which the later pardon developed.
And the circumstances surrounding that first year were surprisingly contentious.
🌾 “Poultryless Thursdays” Almost Ruined Thanksgiving
In 1947, postwar food shortages remained a serious concern in Europe.
The Truman administration created the Citizens Food Committee to encourage Americans to conserve grain so more could be sent overseas. Among its recommendations were “Meatless Tuesdays” and, more controversially, “Poultryless Thursdays.”
There was an obvious problem.
Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day all fell on Thursdays during that holiday season.
Poultry producers were not pleased.
The industry protested, including a campaign in which live chickens were sent to the White House under slogans such as “Hens for Harry.” The poultryless-Thursday plan was abandoned in November.
Then, on December 15, 1947, representatives of the National Turkey Federation and the Poultry and Egg National Board presented Truman with a 47-pound turkey intended for Christmas dinner.
The episode helped establish the poultry industry’s White House turkey presentation as a recurring media event.
The turkey was not pardoned.
That distinction is important because the often-repeated story that Truman ceremonially saved a bird in 1947 turns a much more complicated episode into something that did not actually happen.
📸 From Dinner to Photo Opportunity
Turkey presentations continued during subsequent administrations.
For years, the basic setup looked surprisingly familiar: poultry representatives arrived with an exceptionally large turkey, the president met the bird, photographers captured the encounter, and newspapers had an easy seasonal story.
What changed was what happened to the turkey afterward.
Originally, presented birds were generally understood to be food. The White House Historical Association notes that some even arrived wearing signs declaring “Good Eatin’ Mr. President.”
Gradually, presidents and first families began sparing some of the birds.
That transition happened long before an official annual “pardon” existed.
🦃 John F. Kennedy Lets One Grow
One of the most important moments occurred on November 19, 1963.
Representatives of the poultry industry brought President John F. Kennedy a 55-pound white turkey. The bird wore a sign around its neck that read “Good Eating, Mr. President!”
Kennedy decided otherwise.
“We’ll just let this one grow,” he said, and the turkey was returned to its California breeding farm.
The moment looks remarkably like a modern presidential turkey pardon.
But Kennedy did not call it a pardon, and the event did not immediately establish an uninterrupted annual ceremony.
Its place in history became especially poignant because it occurred only three days before Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas on November 22, 1963.
🦃 Other Presidents Spared Turkeys Too
Kennedy was not the only president before 1989 to allow a presented turkey to live.
The White House Historical Association documents additional reprieves during subsequent administrations, including turkey-saving moments associated with the Nixon and Carter White Houses.
By the 1980s, sending presented birds away to farms or petting zoos rather than eating them was increasingly familiar.
That brought the tradition to Ronald Reagan.
🎬 Ronald Reagan Gets Close to a “Pardon”
By Reagan’s presidency, the turkey presentation was moving much closer to the ceremony recognizable today.
The White House Historical Association notes that Reagan regularly sent presented turkeys to farms or petting zoos rather than putting them on the Thanksgiving table.
Then came an especially memorable exchange in 1987.
Reporters were questioning Reagan about the Iran-Contra affair and whether he might pardon figures involved in it. When the conversation turned to Charlie, that year’s Thanksgiving turkey, Reagan joked that if officials had given him a different answer about the bird’s future, he “would have pardoned him.”
Charlie was already headed to a pet farm.
The word had finally entered the turkey conversation.
But the annual presidential pardon as a clearly stated tradition was still about to take its decisive step.
🇺🇸 George H. W. Bush Makes the Pardon Official
On November 17, 1989, President George H. W. Bush stood in the White House Rose Garden beside a nervous-looking turkey.
Animal-rights protesters were nearby, and Bush acknowledged that the bird seemed understandably concerned about the proceedings.
Then he announced that the turkey would not end up on anyone’s dinner table.
Instead, Bush said the bird had been granted a “presidential pardon.”
The turkey would be sent to a children’s farm.
The White House Historical Association identifies that 1989 event as the moment that firmly established the modern annual turkey-pardon tradition. Every subsequent administration has continued the ceremony.
So if you are looking for the beginning of the presidential turkey pardon as we know it today, 1989—not 1947—is the key year.
⚖️ Is the Presidential Turkey Pardon a Real Legal Pardon?
No.
A turkey has committed no federal offense, so there is nothing legally to pardon.
Article II of the U.S. Constitution gives presidents the power to grant reprieves and pardons for “Offences against the United States.” The Congressional Research Service’s Constitution Annotated explains that this power concerns relief from the consequences of federal crimes.
The Thanksgiving turkey pardon is therefore ceremonial.
No legal paperwork is required to clear the turkey’s record.
The language works because the contrast is funny: one of the most serious constitutional powers of the presidency is borrowed for a lighthearted holiday ritual involving a very large bird.
📺 How the Modern Turkey Pardon Works
The ceremony has become increasingly elaborate since 1989.
The National Turkey Federation provides the National Thanksgiving Turkey and an alternate. Both birds generally make the trip to Washington, and although one may receive more attention during the ceremony, the modern tradition provides a reprieve for both.
The White House selects their names, sometimes drawing from suggestions submitted by the public.
After the White House presentation, the birds are sent to a new home rather than becoming Thanksgiving dinner. In recent years, the National Turkey Federation says the National Thanksgiving Turkey and its alternate have been placed at universities, where veterinarians and poultry-science students care for them.
The event itself usually occurs in the days before Thanksgiving and gives the White House an intentionally lighthearted moment during the holiday season.
🏨 Why Are There Two Turkeys?
There is usually a star and an understudy.
The National Turkey Federation typically brings two birds to Washington: the National Thanksgiving Turkey and an alternate.
That arrangement makes practical sense when live animals are involved. Turkeys do not know that a nationally photographed ceremony is on the calendar, and an alternate provides some flexibility if the selected bird cannot participate.
In modern practice, however, the alternate does not generally face the dinner table simply because the primary turkey performed successfully.
Both receive the Thanksgiving reprieve.
That makes “alternate” considerably less ominous than it sounds.
🪶 How Do the Turkeys Get Their Names?
Names have become part of the entertainment.
Over the years, presidential turkeys have appeared in matched pairs with names designed for Thanksgiving-season headlines.
The naming tradition reinforces the transformation of the birds from agricultural products into temporary celebrities.
Once a turkey has a name, appears before television cameras, and stands beside the president, it becomes considerably harder to imagine it as anonymous holiday dinner.
The National Turkey Federation maintains a history of the White House presentation and lists the paired names used in modern ceremonies.
🏡 Where Do Pardoned Turkeys Go?
Destinations have changed considerably over the decades.
Some earlier spared birds were returned to farms or sent to children’s farms and petting zoos.
Modern turkeys have often gone to universities with poultry programs, where they can receive specialized care and become part of agricultural education.
The National Turkey Federation says that after the White House presentation, the National Thanksgiving Turkey and its alternate are transported to a university and cared for by veterinarians and poultry-science students.
So the ceremony does more than delay Thanksgiving dinner by a few days.
For the selected birds, it really does mean retirement.
🍗 Presidential Turkey vs. the Turkey on Your Table
The White House turkey may be symbolic, but approximately 46 million turkeys have traditionally been associated with Thanksgiving meals across the United States, according to frequently cited industry estimates.
For families planning an actual Thanksgiving dinner, the relevant calculation is considerably less ceremonial.
A useful starting point is about 1¼ pounds of whole turkey per person, increasing to roughly 1½ pounds per person if you want generous leftovers.
Our How Much Turkey Per Person? Thanksgiving Serving Size Guide breaks the numbers down for gatherings ranging from small family dinners to large holiday tables.
Your turkey probably will not receive a Rose Garden ceremony.
It can at least be the correct size.
🎈 The Pardon Joins a Much Larger Collection of Thanksgiving Traditions
Part of what makes the presidential turkey pardon interesting is how comfortably it now sits beside traditions created at completely different moments in American history.
Thanksgiving itself developed over centuries.
Lincoln’s 1863 proclamation helped create a regular national observance. Congress ultimately established the fourth Thursday of November as the federal Thanksgiving holiday in 1941.
Detroit’s Thanksgiving football tradition began in the 1930s.
The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade began in 1924 and developed from a relatively modest New York procession into an enormous televised holiday event filled with balloons, floats, bands, performers, and Santa Claus.
You can explore that story in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade: History, Balloons & Traditions.
The presidential turkey pardon did not become an annual tradition until 1989.
Something does not have to be centuries old to become an expected part of a holiday.
📜 Why the Truman Myth Keeps Surviving
The claim that Truman began the presidential turkey pardon is extraordinarily persistent.
Part of the confusion is understandable.
His administration really was important to the development of the ceremony.
The recurring industry presentation became associated with the White House during the Truman years. Photographs show Truman standing beside enormous turkeys. The National Turkey Federation was involved. The year 1947 really is significant.
All the ingredients are there except the pardon itself.
Over time, those facts appear to have collapsed into an appealing but inaccurate story: Truman received a Thanksgiving turkey in 1947, pardoned it, and began the tradition.
The Truman Library’s own research makes clear that the evidence does not support that version.
It is a useful reminder that holiday traditions often acquire neat origin stories long after they begin.
Real history tends to be messier.
🗓️ A Turkey-Pardon Timeline
The tradition makes more sense when viewed as a sequence rather than a single invention.
In the 1860s, an account later published by journalist Noah Brooks described Abraham Lincoln sparing a Christmas turkey after his son Tad pleaded for the bird.
By the 1870s, presidents and first families were receiving holiday turkeys as gifts.
In 1947, the National Turkey Federation and Poultry and Egg National Board presented Truman with a turkey amid the controversy surrounding the administration’s short-lived “Poultryless Thursdays.” Truman did not pardon it.
In 1963, Kennedy spared a 55-pound turkey, telling those gathered, “We’ll just let this one grow.”
During the 1980s, Reagan regularly sent presented turkeys away to farms or petting zoos, and in 1987 he joked about pardoning one.
Finally, on November 17, 1989, George H. W. Bush explicitly granted the turkey a “presidential pardon,” establishing the annual modern tradition.
That timeline is less tidy than attributing the whole thing to one president.
It is also much more interesting.
🦃 Why Has the Tradition Lasted?
The turkey pardon occupies an unusual corner of presidential tradition.
It is connected to the presidency without carrying the seriousness of most presidential ceremonies. It is connected to Thanksgiving without being necessary to the holiday. It brings together agriculture, television, humor, public relations, food, and history in one very strange photo opportunity.
And because presidents from different administrations have continued it, the event has gradually acquired the familiarity of tradition.
The jokes change.
The turkey names change.
The destination changes.
But the essential scene remains recognizable: a large bird stands near the president, the possibility of Thanksgiving dinner is mentioned, and the turkey receives permission to live another day.
What began with holiday gifts and poultry-industry presentations eventually became one of the oddest annual rituals associated with the White House.
🍂 A Tradition That Grew One Turkey at a Time
There was no single moment when someone sat down and invented the presidential turkey pardon exactly as it exists today.
Lincoln supplied an early turkey-saving story.
Late-19th-century poultry producers established the habit of sending holiday birds to presidents.
The Truman years helped turn industry presentations into recurring White House events.
Kennedy publicly spared a turkey.
Reagan pushed the ceremony closer to the language and structure of a pardon.
George H. W. Bush finally gave the modern tradition its defining phrase in 1989.
And every administration since has kept it going.
That winding history may be the most American thing about the ceremony.
Traditions rarely arrive fully formed.
They accumulate stories until one day everyone assumes they have always been there.
The presidential turkey pardon just happens to have feathers.
🔗 Related Articles
- How Much Turkey Per Person? Thanksgiving Serving Size Guide
- Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade: History, Balloons & Traditions
- 30 Thanksgiving Trivia Questions & Answers for Family Fun
- The History of Thanksgiving
- Thanksgiving Traditions
📚 Sources & Further Reading
- White House Historical Association — Which President Started the Tradition of Pardoning the Thanksgiving Turkey?
- White House Historical Association — “Good Eatin’ Mr. President”: The Curious Origins of the White House Turkey Pardon
- White House Historical Association — History of White House Thanksgiving Traditions
- Harry S. Truman Presidential Library & Museum — Did Truman Pardon a Turkey?
- Ronald Reagan Presidential Library — Informal Exchange With Reporters, November 23, 1987
- National Turkey Federation — The History of the White House Presentation
- Congress.gov Constitution Annotated — Presidential Pardon Power
