Deema Zein:
Actually, Truman was the first president to receive a turkey from the National Turkey Federation, but there’s no record of a pardon.
According to the White House Historical Association, Truman said that the birds would come in handy for Christmas dinner. So, who was the first president to pardon a turkey? Technically, it was Honest Abe Lincoln, after his young son Tad begged to save the life of a bird originally destined to become Christmas dinner.
Jack the turkey instead became a White House pet. President John F. Kennedy was the first to spare a Thanksgiving gobbler. In 1963, despite a sign hanging around the turkey’s neck that read, “Good eating, Mr. President,” Kennedy sent them back to the farm.
And a year before Richard Nixon received a pardon of his own, his daughter chose to gift his turkey to a local petting zoo. It was Ronald Reagan who carved out a spot in history as the first to use the word pardon when talking turkey in 1987.
The tradition became formalized two years later by President George H. W. Bush.
George H.W. Bush, Former President of the United States: Let me assure you and this fine tom turkey that he will not end up on anyone’s dinner table, not this guy.
Source link
