President Biden pardoned two Minnesota turkeys on Monday, officially sparing them from ending up on somebody’s Thanksgiving dinner table and continuing the annual White House tradition.
Mr. Biden used his clemency power to save Peach and Blossom, two 40-pound turkeys from Northfield, Minnesota.
“Based on your temperament and commitment to being productive members of society, I hereby pardon Peach and Blossom,” Mr. Biden said during a ceremony on the South Lawn.
The birds were hatched in July and traveled to Washington this week. They were treated to a suite at the Willard InterContinental Washington hotel, as is tradition before their big day at the White House.
Now that they are pardoned, the two turkeys will head to Waseca, Minnesota, to live out the remainder of their lives as “agriculture ambassadors” at Farmamerica, an agricultural center focused on teaching visitors how food and animals shape lives.
As Mr. Biden talked, he was repeatedly interrupted by Peach, which gobbled throughout the ceremony.
“Peach is making a last-minute appeal here,” Mr. Biden joked.
Typically, the White House turkey pardon is filled with corny jokes and bad puns, but Mr. Biden took a more serious approach this year. He closed his remarks by acknowledging this holiday season will be his last as president, with President-elect Donald Trump set to take over in January.
“It’s also my last time to speak here as your president during this season and give thanks and gratitude,” Mr. Biden said. “So let me say to you it’s been the honor of my life. I’m forever grateful.”
He urged the roughly 2,500 who had gathered on the White House’s South Lawn to use the holiday season to “focus on what matters most; our families.”
The origins of the presidential turkey pardon are shrouded in mystery. Some say it started when Abraham Lincoln set free a bird that his family planned to eat for Christmas after his son Tad pleaded with him to set it free.
In 1963, just before his assassination, John F. Kennedy decided to send back the Thanksgiving turkey that had arrived at the White House, saying it should grow. Kennedy never formally granted the turkey clemency, however.
Some have credited Harry S. Truman with the pardon, but his presidential library said in 2003 that there are no documents, speeches or newspaper clippings suggesting he ever pardoned a turkey.
The first official pardoning was conducted by President George H.W. Bush in 1989. It has happened every year since then.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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