Strange history fact I learned today: Eisenhower ate the turkeys that were given to him at thanksgiving while he was president. President Kennedy sent a 55 pound, freakishly large turkey back to the farm with the sarcastic quip Well let him grow. Richard Nixon also spared some of the turkeys given to him during his time as President. The first President on record issuing a pardon to his turkey was Ronald Reagan, who pardoned a turkey named Charlie and sent him to a petting zoo in 1987. The reference to it being a pardon was in response to criticism over the Iran-Contra affair, in which Reagan had been questioned on whether or not he would consider pardoning Oliver North (who had yet to be tried for his involvement in the affair); Reagan conjured the turkey pardon as a joke to deflect those questions. Reagan did not pardon a turkey in his final year as President in 1988, but his successor, George H. W. Bush, instituted the turkey pardon as a permanent part of the presentation beginning his first year in office.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Dec 2014 19:34:14 +0000
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