The turkey pardon: what it is and why it happens
The turkey pardon is an annual White House ceremony in which the President of the United States symbolically spares a turkey from slaughter and sends it to a farm for retirement. Though often traced to Abraham Lincoln or Harry Truman, the modern tradition is most closely associated with George H. W. Bush in 1989. The event blends holiday pageantry with official duties, featuring the bird’s official inspection, a lighthearted naming, and a televised send-off. The primary aim is seasonal goodwill and national festivity, not policy action. Below we detail how historians view the origins, how the ceremony evolved, and what happens after the pardon.