White House turkey pardon: Did John F. Kennedy start the tradition?
| WASHINGTON
Was John F. Kennedy the first US president to pardon a turkey? There鈥檚 evidence that鈥檚 the case, though he never used the word 鈥減ardon." He merely intervened to save poultry life.
It was 1963. The annual Rose Garden appearance of a couple of feathered gobblers wasn鈥檛 yet a White House tradition. It happened occasionally, but usually as a Christmastime event. Harry Truman accepted a number of December birds. During the Eisenhower administration, the president sometimes pushed the job off on Vice President Richard Nixon.
But in 鈥�63, a California ad man named Leo Perlstein prodded the National Turkey Federation to donate a Thanksgiving turkey to Kennedy. What could be better publicity for the federation鈥檚 products, after all? JFK鈥檚 suave countenance would guarantee press coverage and, best of all, pictures. And the Kennedys consumed lots of turkey at their annual Thanksgiving gathering in Hyannis Port, Mass., at the family oceanfront compound.
And pictures there were. The handover took place on Nov. 19, 1963. Tanned, relatively young, and seemingly fit and hardy, JFK stands in the crowd of White House aides and poultry lobbyists like the tallest pine in the forest. The bird, standing on a table, is wearing that says 鈥淕ood Eating Mr. President." This appears undignified even by turkey standards, which are low.
But Kennedy didn鈥檛 plan to eat the bird, he told reporters. 鈥淲e鈥檒l just let this one grow,鈥� he said,
鈥淚t鈥檚 our Thanksgiving present to him,鈥� said Kennedy.
JFK decided to spare the turkey at first sight, said the AP. Initially he thought they鈥檇 just keep it at the White House. But at 55 lbs.,聽it was already so big he decided to return it to its California home for use in breeding.
The turkey鈥檚 entourage had come with a frozen 20-lb. bird for Kennedy鈥檚 personal use, but he asked that be donated to the Salvation Army.
The president planned to spend Thanksgiving at Hyannis Port, and expected to leave for the family place on Nov. 27, said the AP. He planned to remain there until Nov. 30, when he was scheduled to attend the Army-Navy football game in Philadelphia.
That鈥檚 the tragedy of this tale. He did not live to see the holiday. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas four days later. The turkey presentation was perhaps his last light-hearted White House public event.
Kennedy鈥檚 magnanimity to turkeys didn鈥檛 catch on right way. Eventually President Nixon began dispatching some presented turkeys to a local petting farm, rather than eat them. But it was President George H. W. Bush who first offered a turkey an actual pardon, . Since then the practice has become an annual event that鈥檚 part irony, part tradition, like any good holiday show.
