Presidential Pardoned Turkeys
Photos clockwise from bottom left include Presidents Truman, Obama, Kennedy, Eisenhower, Ford, Johnson and Reagan
The history behind this Thanksgiving tradition of Presidential Pardoned Turkeys in Washington, D.C. dates back to President Truman in 1947, when an official ceremony was held to present the president with a turkey.
California Thanksgiving Vegetarian Statistics
California ranks among the top 6 in the U.S. for turkeys.
Each year since, the National Turkey Federation has been invited to participate in this ceremony by raising and presenting the National Thanksgiving Turkey to the president. Early Presidential turkeys were destined for a dinner plate until President George H.W. Bush began the official tradition of pardoning the turkey in 1989.
Today the annual National Thanksgiving Turkey ceremony in the Rose Garden of the Whitehouse is primarily a photo opportunity. Politics have come into play as animal (and bird) rights activists have challenged the placement of the pardoned birds and sought to secure specific living conditions for them. However, the average life expectancy of a turkey is around three years and the question about whether they are happy in their new digs becomes moot.
Presidential turkeys in recent years have been places on farms and estates in Virginia and places not from from the nation's the Capitol. The 2017 birds (two of them) join the 2016 turkeys at Virginia Tech Gobblers Rest exhibit, where students and veterinarians care for the turkeys, and the public can visit and learn about the university’s teaching, research, and outreach programs in animal and poultry sciences and veterinary medicine.
Here are some Thanksgiving tidbits.