Biden Pardons Thanksgiving Turkeys 'Liberty' and 'Bell'

What's the story?

• Today, President Joe Biden participated in the annual White House turkey pardon, granting a reprieve to Liberty and Bell.
• Biden told an audience of staff, Cabinet members, and schoolchildren:

"These birds have a new appreciation for the word, 'Let freedom ring.' I hereby pardon Liberty and Bell. Congratulations, birds."

Why do presidents pardon turkeys?

• According to the White House Historical Association (WHHA), Abraham Lincoln was the first president to pardon a turkey, although the tradition didn't start until much later in U.S. history. Apparently, someone brought a live turkey to the Lincoln White House for Christmas in 1863, but Lincoln's son Tad was so horrified by the idea of killing and eating the bird that Honest Abe decided to spare the bird's life.
• Beginning in 1873, "Poultry King" Horace Vose sent turkeys to the White House every year for Thanksgiving and Christmas for the First Family to enjoy until his death in 1913. But the Vose turkeys, which the WHHA notes "never weighed fewer than 30 pounds and sometimes topped the scales at 50 pounds," were already "slaughtered and dressed."
• It wasn't until Harry S. Truman took office that uneaten turkeys became a tradition at the White House. In the wake of World War II, Truman had instituted an unofficial set of food-saving policies to help the U.S. and Europe recover from the war, including "Meatless Tuesdays," "Eggless Mondays," and, yes, "Poultryless Thursdays." The latter infuriated the poultry lobby in the U.S., and farmers started sending birds to the White House in protest. Many pin the origins of the turkey pardon on a gobbler sent to Truman for Christmas 1947, just after he ended the policy.
• But the Truman Library argues that he never actually pardoned the turkey; he just took a photo with one. Truman apparently even joked at the time that he could send it home to his family in Missouri, where it would feed 25 of his relatives.
• From President John F. Kennedy forward, presidents have held similar photo-ops with donated turkeys. But it wasn't until George H.W. Bush took office in 1989 that the term "pardon" was used, and the tradition was truly hatched.
• Now, two turkeys are sent to the White House annually, with one chosen as the official turkey to be pardoned. President Obama was the first president to pardon both turkeys when he took office in 2009, after some pleading by his daughters Sasha and Malia.

What will happen to Liberty and Bell?

• The birds were hatched in July and made the 20-hour drive to the capital from Willmar, Minnesota. They were chosen for their extroverted personalities and stayed at the luxurious Willard InterContinental hotel.
• Following the ceremony, Liberty and Bell will return to their home state, where they will retire at the University of Minnesota College of Food, Agricultural, and Natural Resources Sciences.

What do you think about the annual presidential turkey pardon?

-Emma Kansiz & Josh Herman

(Photo Credit: Jacquelyn Martin/AP)