The History of the White House Turkey Pardon

The story of the White House turkey pardon dates back to the Civil War, when Abraham Lincoln’s son Tad allegedly asked his father to spare a turkey from the holiday meal. President Lincoln obliged, pardoning Jack the turkey. The official White House turkey pardon, however, wouldn’t begin until 1989. Here, take a look back at the history of the quirky Thanksgiving tradition.

Truman was not the first president to pardon a turkey; he was, however, the first to receive turkeys from the National Turkey Federation—but he planned to eat them, not save them. “The Library’s staff has found no documents, speeches, newspaper clippings, photographs, or other contemporary records in our holdings which refer to Truman pardoning a turkey that he received as a gift in 1947, or at any other time during his Presidency,” the Truman Library said in a statement in 2003. “Truman sometimes indicated to reporters that the turkeys he received were destined for the family dinner table.”