How the presidential turkey pardon got its start

President Ronald Reagan while attending the annual live “Thanksgiving Turkey” presentation at the White House in Washington on Friday, Nov. 17, 1984, protects himself from flying feathers, as the live bird being presented to the first family flaps his wings in protest of the occasion. John Hendricks of the NTF hangs on to the bird name “R.J.” standing for “robust and juicy” which was raised to the weight of 53-pounds by turkey farmer Hendricks in Shelby, N.C. (AP Photo/Scott Stewart)

President Ronald Reagan, with Peter Hermanson, president of the National Turkey Federation, right, takes part in the annual White House Thanksgiving turkey presentation on Friday, Nov. 19, 1988 at Washington in the Rose Garden. The 40-50 pound gobbler, named Woody, from Iowa, will be sent to a pet farm in Reston, Va. after the event. Other people at the event are unidentified. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)

Shannon Duffy, 8, Fairfax, Virginia, reaches out for the Thanksgiving turkey presented to President Bush, Friday, November 17, 1989 by the National Turkey Foundation. President and Mrs. Bush donated the turkey to a Children's petting farm in Virginia. (AP Photo/Marcy Nighswander)

U.S. President George H. Bush pets a turkey in the Rose Garden of the White House, Wednesday, Nov. 15, 1990 in Washington as Wyatt Upchurch, president of the National Turkey Federation who presented the bird looks on. The Thanksgiving turkey is given to a animal farm near Washington. (AP Photo/Marcy Nighswander)

President H. W. Bush, flanked by Gary Ruka, National Turkey Federation president, and his wife, Sheila, accepts the annual Thanksgiving turkey at the White House, Monday, November 25, 1991. The turkey will be given to a children's petting farm. (AP Photo/Marcy Nighswander)

President Bush gestures during a Rose Garden ceremony Tuesday, November 25, 1992 where he pardoned this years Thanksgiving turkey presented by the National Turkey Federation. Chuck Helms, left, and Bruce Cuddy stand behind Bush. (AP Photo/Greg Gibson)

President Bill Clinton and nine-year-old Shawn Arbogast, of Harrisonburg, Va., look over Tom, a 50-pound turkey presented to the president in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on Nov. 23, 1994. After the ceremony, the president pardoned Tom who will take up residence at the Flying Pan Park in Chantilly, VA. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

President Clinton, accompanied by Jim Cooper, chairman, National Turkey Federation, laughs while looking at Carl, a 35-pound turkey, wearing a White House visitors pass, which was presented to him at the White House Wednesday Nov. 27, 1996. After the ceremony, the president continued a tradition begun by President Harry Truman 49 years ago by pardoning the turkey and sending it off to life in a Virginia petting farm. (AP Photo/Doug Mills)

President Clinton accepts a 60-pound, white-feathered turkey from Raeford, N.C., during a ceremony in the Rose Garden of the White House, Wednesday, Nov. 26, 1997. From left are, Joel Coleman of Carroll's Foods, the president, National Turkey Federation Chairman F.J. Faison and his wife Dorothy Faison. Afterward, the president granted the turkey a pardon, sending it to a Virginia farm. (AP Photo/Joe Marquette)

President Clinton, along with, from left, handler Walter Gisiason, National Turkey Federation (NTF) Chairman Frank Gessell, obscured, and NTF Secretary Treasurer Jerry Jerome admire a 45-pound turkey in the Rose Garden of the White House Tuesday, Nov. 24, 1998, where the president, in a pre-Thanksgiving tradition, pardoned the bird. The turkey will be sent to the Frying Pan Park in Fairfax, Va. (AP Photo/Doug Mills)

President Clinton, holding his nephew Tyler, 6, grants a "pardon" to a turkey named "Jerry," from Barron Wis., during the annual Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation at White House, in Washington Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2000. Placing the turkey on the table is Nickolas Feidt, the man who raised it. Standing in the background, from left, are Stuart Proctor, Jr., and Jerry Jerome, chairman of the National Turkey Federation. Clinton's action in the Rose Garden spared the bird, so he won't become someone's meal. It will instead go to a petting zoo in Herndon, Va. (AP Photo/Kenneth Lambert)

President Bush pets "Liberty" the turkey as he participates in the annual pardoning of the Thanksgiving turkey in the Rose Garden of the White House Monday Nov. 19, 2001. At left is Jeff Radford, of Goldsboro Milling Co. in Goldsboro, N.C., and Stuart Proctor, president of National Turkey Federation,second from left. Liberty will spend the rest of his life at a petting farm in Herndon, Va. (AP Photo/Doug Mills)

President Bush, standing with Jim Stocam, left, and Tom Fix, of Carthage, Mo., pets Stars the national Thanksgiving turkey during a ceremony pardoning the turkey in the Rose Garden of the White House, Monday, Nov. 24, 2003. The presidential tradition of pardoning a turkey dates back over 50 years to Harry Truman and has ever since been a custom of the White House executive. As in previous years, this year's turkey will be given to Kidwell Farm at Frying Pan Park, in Herndon, Virginia. Stocam and Fix raised Stars. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

President Bush, right, hold Biscuits by the neck during the Pardoning of the National Thanksgiving Turkey in a ceremony in the Rose Garden of the White House, Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2004, in Washington. After the ceremony the turkey will be retired to the Kidwell Farm petting zoo at Frying Pan Park in Herndon, Va. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

President Bush looks at the national Thanksgiving turkey Marshmallow during a ceremony pardoning the turkey in the Old Executive Office Building , Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2005. The presidential tradition of pardoning a turkey dates back over 50 years to Harry Truman and has ever since been a custom of the White House executive. In a break from tradition, the bird will be going to Disneyland, where the 35-pound Tom Turkey will be grand marshall of the Disneyland Thanksgiving Day parade. Left is Alice Johnson, National Turkey Federation President, and right is James Trites, who raised the turkey. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

President Bush, center, shows "Flyer" the National Thanksgiving turkey to girls from a local Girl Scout troop after after pardoning the turkey during a ceremony in the Rose Garden of the White House, Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2006, in Washington. Holding the turkey is Lynn Nutt, left, from Springfield, Mo. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

President Bush pardons May, the National Thanksgiving Turkey in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2007. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

President George W. Bush stands by as Nathan Hill of Circle Hill Farms from Ellsworth, Iowa, who holds 'Pumpkin' the turkey during the Pardoning of the National Thanksgiving Turkey ceremony in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2008. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

President Barack Obama, right, speaks as he pardons a turkey, Courage, with daughter Sasha Obama, 8, the day before Thanksgiving, during a ceremony in the North Portico of the White House in Washington Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2009 as Walter Pelletier, chairman of the National Turkey Federation, center and Paul Hill, left, with the federation, look on. Daughter Malia Obama is not seen behind the President. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Barack Obama pets "Apple," the National Thanksgiving turkey during a ceremony in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2010. National Turkey Federation Chairman Yubert Envia, left, and first daughters, Sasha, second from right, and Malia, right, watch. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

President Barack Obama stands with daughters Sasha and Malia after pardoning Liberty, a 19-week old, 45-pound turkey, on the occasion of Thanksgiving, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011, on the North Portico of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

President Barack Obama, with daughters Sasha, center, and Malia, right, carries on the Thanksgiving tradition of saving a turkey from the dinner table with a "presidential pardon," at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2012. After the ceremony, "Cobbler" will head to George Washington's historic home in Virginia to be part of the “Christmas at Mount Vernon” exhibition. National Turkey Federation Chairman Steve Willardsen is at left. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

President Barack Obama, with daughters Sasha, second from left, and Malia, right, carries on the Thanksgiving tradition of saving the national turkey, Popcorn, from the dinner table with a "presidential pardon," at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2013, as John Burkel, current chairman of the National Turkey Federation in Badger, Minn, stands left. After the pardoning, Popcorn travels to George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens where they will be on display for visitors during "Christmas at Mount Vernon." (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

President Barack Obama, with daughters Sasha, second from right, and Malia, right, reaches out to touch "Cheese" after pardoning the turkey as part of the annual Thanksgiving tradition, Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2014, at the White House in Washington. With "Cheese" are Cole Cooper, left, and his father Gary Cooper, chairman of the National Turkey Federation. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

In this Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2015 file photo, National Turkey Federation Chairman Jihad Douglas watches at right as President Barack Obama pardons National Thanksgiving Turkey Abe, during a ceremony in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington. Obama's pardoning of a turkey named "Abe" this Thanksgiving has led some Chinese to gloat at the Japanese prime minister's expense. As part of a peculiar annual tradition at the White House, Obama on Wednesday granted amnesty from the dinner table to two turkeys named "Honest" and "Abe" — from the nickname for President Abraham Lincoln. But a translation glitch in Chinese media replaced the character for single-syllable "Abe" with the surname of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (pronounced "Ah-bay"). (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

President Barack Obama, with his nephews Aaron Robinson, front, and Austin Robinson and National Turkey Federation Chairman John Reicks, pardons the National Thanksgiving Turkey, Tot, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2016, during a ceremony in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington. This is the 69th anniversary of the National Thanksgiving Turkey presentation. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

President Donald Trump, center, with first lady Melania Trump, right, and their son Barron Trump, look at Drumstick, the National Thanksgiving Turkey after being pardoned during a ceremony in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017. This is the 70th anniversary of the National Thanksgiving Turkey presentation. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

President Donald Trump pardons "Peas" one the National Thanksgiving Turkeys, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Two male turkeys from North Carolina named Bread and Butter, that will be pardoned by President Donald Trump, hang out in their hotel room at the Willard InterContinental Hotel, Monday, Nov. 25, 2019, in Washington. The turkeys will be pardoned by the president during a ceremony at the White House ahead of Thanksgiving. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

President Donald Trump pardons Corn, the national Thanksgiving turkey, in the Rose Garden of the White House, Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2020, in Washington, as first lady Melania Trump watches. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

President Joe Biden pardons Peanut Butter, the national Thanksgiving turkey, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Friday, Nov. 19, 2021. Phil Seger, chairman of the National Turkey Federation and Andrea Welp, turkey grower from Indiana stand with Biden. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)