The White House’s History with Thanksgiving and How the Turkey Pardon Came to Be

The History of the White House Thanksgiving traditions date back more than 160 years to President Abraham Lincoln, who established the national holiday.

During his term, Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for the celebration of Thanksgiving, triumphing over similar efforts by presidents before him, according to the National Park Service.

The official designation of the annual national holiday is due, in part, to the writer Sarah Josepha Hale. The NPS notes that in 1827 — as editor of “Boston’s Ladies Magazine” — Hale began writing essays calling for the national holiday. Finally, on September 18, 1863, she wrote to Lincoln asking him to use his presidential powers to create this holiday.

Lincoln obeyed and a few weeks later, on October 3, 1863 – at the height of the Civil War – he issued the Thanksgiving Proclamation. Since then, the country has celebrated Thanksgiving.

But it wasn’t until Congress passed a bill on December 26, 1941, that moved the holiday to the fourth Thursday in November each year.

Thanksgiving at the White House is generally relatively quiet and includes the tradition of forgiving lucky turkeys for their doomed fate at the table.

Presidential pardons to Turkey

The first turkey pardon ever granted is believed to have been given to Lincoln, as recorded by White House reporter Noah Brooks in an 1865 dispatch, according to the White House Historical Association.

Lincoln had pardoned a turkey named Jack belonging to his son Tad Lincoln, which was originally intended to be gobbled up at the family’s Christmas dinner in 1863.

But the annual practice of the White House sending pardoned display turkeys to a farm to live out their days did not occur until Ronald Reagan’s presidency in the 1980s, according to the WHHA. In previous decades, presidents would occasionally receive turkeys from the poultry industry and decide not to eat them without an official pardon.

The WHHA notes that the practice of sending presentation turkeys to the president became a norm in 1981, and pardon ceremonies quickly became a national sensation. In 1989, the annual tradition came to fruition when President George HW Bush — as the association documents — addressed the pardoned turkey, saying the phrase his successors still repeat at ceremonies today: “He has obtained a presidential pardon immediately.

On Monday, President Biden granted the last two pardons to the turkey of his tenure, at Peach and Blossom, sending them to live out the rest of their lives at Farmamerica, Minnesota, as poultry ambassadors to agriculture students.

Get together with family and friends

Aside from the spectacle of pardoning the turkey, presidents spend Thanksgiving the same way as households across the country.

The first documented Thanksgiving gathering at the White House was on November 28, 1878, according to the WHHA. Then-President Rutherford B. Hayes hosted a grand Thanksgiving dinner with his family and private secretaries, afterwards singing hymns in the Red Room and inviting African-American staff to enjoy their own Thanksgiving meal in the State Dining Room.

Since then, the tradition has stood the test of time. Despite economic hardships and periods of war, presidents made time for their families. The WHHA notes that President Woodrow Wilson’s first Thanksgiving meal during World War I, on November 29, 1917, was an economical meal – and without cranberries.

In recent decades, presidents have adopted the tradition of celebrating the holiday outside the White House, at their so-called “go-to” vacation spots. President Ronald Reagan visited his family’s ranch in Santa Barbara, California, in 1985.

President-elect Donald Trump spent all but one Thanksgiving of his first term at his Mar-a-Lago estate in West Palm Beach, Florida. President Biden spent every Thanksgiving during his term with his family in Nantucket, Massachusetts, as the Biden family has done ever since over 40 years old.