Thanksgiving arrives next Thursday, but one of the holiday’s lighter traditions comes a few days early: the presidential turkey pardon.
The White House has not yet announced when President Donald Trump will pardon this year’s pair of ceremonial turkeys, but the Office of the First Lady is already letting the public weigh in. A poll on X asks Americans to choose between four name pairs for the birds: Sugar and Spice, Pumpkin and Pie, Gobble and Waddle, or Acorn and Squash.
While the ceremony is now a well-known bit of Thanksgiving pageantry, its origins are a mix of history and myth.
The first official presentation of a live turkey at the White House happened in 1947, when the National Turkey Federation delivered one to President Harry Truman. Despite a popular belief that Truman began the pardoning tradition, the Truman Library notes the turkey was almost certainly destined for the dinner table.
The event evolved over the decades into today’s formal ceremony. In modern times, two turkeys are selected, a “National Thanksgiving Turkey” and an alternate. Although only one is announced as the official honoree, both are spared and sent to a farm, petting zoo, or agricultural center to live out their lives.
The timing of this year’s pardon remains unannounced, but the naming contest is underway and the presidential birds will soon be ready for their moment in the Rose Garden.
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