Here I go….wondering again…. In keeping with the season…This week I started wondering where in the world the whole Presidential Turkey Pardoning came from….
If you don’t know this…every year on the day before Thanksgiving, the president of the United States chooses a prize turkey as well as a runner-up turkey to be pardoned and live out the rest of his life on turkey farm instead of succumbing to the edge of a butcher knife.
This seemed like such a funny thing for the president of the free world to be doing so I decided to see how it all began…. In my research I found that there are 2 stories that seem to be floating around that claim to be the origin of this tradition.
Some historians claim that Harry Truman pardoned the first turkey in 1947, but the Truman library cannot find any account of this event occurring. Presidents since then have participated in the ceremony. According to one website, President Nixon somehow avoided the whole thing…who knows why???
The other claim is that it all began as a result of good ‘ole Honest Abe pardoning the family turkey from being killed for Thanksgiving dinner because his son wanted to keep it as a pet…. Kinda like a real live Fern from Charlotte’s web.
Either way it’s a funny tradition for our country. Apparently on the day of the pardoning ceremony, the guests make turkey jokes and have a good laugh.
After the pardoning, both winner and runner-up have, in the past, resided at a petting zoo in Pennsylvania. Ironically… named “Frying Pan Park.” Currently the turkeys are shipped to Disneyland and live out their days in a Disney style farm.
The White house even has references to the Turkey pardoning on their website. Click here to see some pics and read the names the American public has chosen for past turkeys. Stay tuned to the white house webpage to vote for this years Turkey names.
Hope you enjoyed this Friday’s edition of “Where did it come From Friday?” Tune in next week for a look into the history of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade!
2 comments:
I just have to be ugly here but, what can I say? It's me! Unfortunately, our government has pardoned a lot of turkeys, most of them with no feathers. I will be nice and not mention any names but, a few come to mind.
Gobble Gobble
At one of the companies I worked for in college, we designed the bag for the President's turkey - the "un-pardoned" turkey. I know that's random, but that's what this post reminded me of. :)
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