PARDON ME
President Donald Trump pardons Thanksgiving turkey Drumstick on Tuesday in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington.
Drumstick didn’t try to fly away, he wasn’t subjected to cringeworthy “dad jokes,” and the president didn’t threaten to shoot him.
So in many ways, Donald Trump’s pardon of the turkey Tuesday at the White House went according to schedule, as the decadeslong Thanksgiving tradition continued without much spectacle in the Rose Garden.
Before pardoning Drumstick and his cohort, Wishbone, Mr. Trump — joined by his wife, Melania, and son Barron — gave a speech that evoked a sense of tradition, stopping only to say, “I hear that beautiful turkey” and cracking a joke about his predecessor’s turkeys, Tater and Tot, who were pardoned in 2016 by Barack Obama.
“As many of you know, I have been very active in overturning a number of executive actions by my predecessor,” Mr. Trump said. “However, I have been informed by the White House counsel’s office that Tater and Tot’s pardons cannot, under any circumstances, be revoked.”
Mr. Trump’s pardon secured him one of the presidency’s easiest political slam dunks, though ceremonies in the past haven’t always gone perfectly.
Probably the most awkward turkey-related presidential moment of all time happened to Ronald Reagan, who didn’t get a full sentence out at the ceremony before the bird tried to get away. Mr. Reagan — who admitted that he “maybe came in too fast” — made matters worse when he said to the wildly flapping bird: “Look, I had the chance to shoot a bunch of you the other day and I didn’t.” Very awkward silence ensued.
There were more audible groans during Mr. Obama’s turkey pardons than during any of his predecessors’. That’s because his jokes were corny and his puns were plentiful — and he was proud of it, smirking after each instance.
But some were worthy of credit, most notably: “When somebody at your table tells you that you’ve been hogging all of the side dishes, you can’t have any more, I hope that you respond with a creed that sums up the spirit of a hungry people: ‘Yes, we cran.’”
There’s much talk that the tradition of pardoning a turkey started in 1947 with President Harry Truman, but he was simply the first to receive one from the National Turkey Federation and the Poultry and Egg National Board. Even the Truman presidential library disputes those rumors, saying it found no evidence that he pardoned the turkeys he received as gifts.
Instead, “Truman sometimes indicated to reporters that the turkeys he received were destined for the family dinner table.” And tensions were high, too: Mr. Truman was given the birds by the poultry industry because growers were upset over the government encouraging “poultryless Thursdays.”
President John F. Kennedy pardoned a turkey during his time in office, but it wasn’t official. The bird, wearing a sign reading “Good Eating Mr. President,” was spared by Mr. Kennedy on Nov. 18, 1963, just days before the president was assassinated. Mr. Kennedy reportedly said “we’ll let this one grow” before having it sent to a farm.
The official tradition of pardoning a turkey began with George H. W. Bush, who spared a lucky bird in 1989. With animal rights activists protesting close by, Mr. Bush remarked, “’Reprieve,’ ‘keep him going,’ or ‘pardon’: It’s all the same for the turkey, as long as he doesn’t end up on the president’s holiday table.” There was no looking back after this.
The turkey pardon took on new life during Bill Clinton’s presidency. In 1999, Mr. Clinton became the first president to give a name to the National Thanksgiving Turkey, calling the 50-pound bird “Harry” in honor of Mr. Truman.
“So before I feast on one of the 45 million turkeys who will make the ultimate sacrifice, let me give this one a permanent reprieve, and tell you all that he will soon be on his way to the wonderful petting zoo at Fairfax County, Va., where he can enjoy his golden years,” Mr. Clinton said.
George W. Bush’s eight turkey ceremonies were less memorable than the other public aspects of his presidency, but people often remember Marshmallow and Yam, the pair of turkeys pardoned in 2005.
Rather than retiring to Frying Pan Park in Virginia, Marshmallow and Yam were the first turkeys to be sent to Disneyland, serving as honorary grand marshals at the Thanksgiving Day parade.
“Marshmallow and Yam were a little skeptical about going to a place called ‘Frying Pan Park.’ I don’t blame them,” the president said.