WEBVTT - Why Do U.S. Presidents Pardon Turkeys for Thanksgiving?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio.

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<v Speaker 1>Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum. Here, the U S presidents

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<v Speaker 1>have a lot to say, but once a year they

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<v Speaker 1>really talked turkey. At least that's what President Joe Biden

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<v Speaker 1>said he was going to do on a fine November

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<v Speaker 1>day in one when he had his first opportunity to

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<v Speaker 1>stand in the White House rose Garden and pardon a

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<v Speaker 1>turkey for Thanksgiving. As has become the norm, Biden actually

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<v Speaker 1>pardoned two turkeys. Their names were peanut Butter and Jelly

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<v Speaker 1>before they were sent off to Indiana University. The official

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<v Speaker 1>pardoning of White House turkeys is now a familiar event

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<v Speaker 1>that the press well eats up for the article. This

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<v Speaker 1>episode is based on how Stuff Work. Spoke with Lena Mann,

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<v Speaker 1>a historian at the White House Historical Association. She said,

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<v Speaker 1>this is my absolute favorite White House tradition. It's just

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<v Speaker 1>very fun, which I think is why it indoors. It's

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<v Speaker 1>a way for the presidents to show off their sillier sides,

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<v Speaker 1>and it's certainly is silly. Lest do you think peanut

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<v Speaker 1>Butter and Jelly wear flukes of Prior turkey pairs have

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<v Speaker 1>had names like Mac and cheese, tater and todd, cobbler

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<v Speaker 1>and gobbler, and corn and cob All of this leads

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<v Speaker 1>us to the question of when and how this compassionate

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<v Speaker 1>we get odd tradition hatched. It's definitely a departure from

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<v Speaker 1>the usual duties of a U. S. President. One theory

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<v Speaker 1>about its origins is that it again when President Abraham

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<v Speaker 1>Lincoln's son asked that the families Christmas turkey be spared.

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<v Speaker 1>But the tradition developed in fits and starts. According to Man,

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<v Speaker 1>in the latter half of the eighteen hundreds, citizens began

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<v Speaker 1>sending turkeys to the president at the White House for

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<v Speaker 1>the holidays. The Thanksgiving had become a national holiday in

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<v Speaker 1>eighteen sixty three, and by the eighteen seventies, a Rhode

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<v Speaker 1>Island poultry man by the name of Horace Bows had

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<v Speaker 1>begun getting fully dressed turkeys to the White House, of

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<v Speaker 1>meaning they were cleaned and stuffed and ready to be

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<v Speaker 1>not that they were wearing little bow ties. Those continued

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<v Speaker 1>sending the turkeys every year, and newspapers started to report

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<v Speaker 1>on his efforts, making him a well known purveyor of poultry.

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<v Speaker 1>By the time Theodore Roosevelt was President, vose was still

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<v Speaker 1>sending fully dressed turkeys to the White House. Then a

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<v Speaker 1>newspaper published an article claiming that Roosevelt's children had terrorized

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<v Speaker 1>the turkey that they received, a claim that was clearly

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<v Speaker 1>made up, because remember, the turkeys vose sent were not alive.

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<v Speaker 1>They were definitely deceased, they had shuffled off their mortal coil.

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<v Speaker 1>They were ex turkeys. That does not mean that presidents

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<v Speaker 1>never received live turkeys or other animals in those early days.

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<v Speaker 1>In Nix, someone from Mississippi sent the Coolidges a live

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<v Speaker 1>raccoon for the President's Thanksgiving table. But luckily for the raccoon,

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<v Speaker 1>the first Lady, Grace Coolidge, took a shine to it

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<v Speaker 1>and kept it as a family pet, naming it Rebecca Young.

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<v Speaker 1>Rebecca proceeded to live a charmed life, earning press coverage

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<v Speaker 1>and even attending the nineteen seven White House Easter egg roll,

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<v Speaker 1>and then she retired to a zoo when Herbert Hoover

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<v Speaker 1>took over in n I should put in here that

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<v Speaker 1>raccoons should not be kept as pets beyond the fact

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<v Speaker 1>that they are wild animals and can carry rabies. Believe

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<v Speaker 1>me when I tell you that they have a smell

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<v Speaker 1>and you want no part of it anyway. In the

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<v Speaker 1>years following World War Two, food shortages led to an

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<v Speaker 1>organization called the Citizens Food Committee, with support from the

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<v Speaker 1>White House, requesting that Americans commit to meatless Tuesdays and

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<v Speaker 1>poultry and egg free Thursdays. Many Americans were outraged by

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<v Speaker 1>this idea, of especially as the holidays approached. In Thanksgiving, Christmas,

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<v Speaker 1>and New Year's Day of ninety eight all fell on Thursdays.

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<v Speaker 1>Of poultry farmers began sending chickens to the White House

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<v Speaker 1>in protest. The campaign was called Hens for Harry, named

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<v Speaker 1>for then President Harry Truman. The poll free free food

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<v Speaker 1>conservation program quickly lost steam. In December of ninety seven,

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<v Speaker 1>the Poultry and Egg National Board, in collaboration with the

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<v Speaker 1>Turkey Federation, presented Truman with a turkey wearing a whopping

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<v Speaker 1>forty seven pounds that's twenty one kilos, and a new

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<v Speaker 1>annual tradition was born. The Truman White House Thanksgiving table

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<v Speaker 1>did forego pumpkin pie that year in honor of going

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<v Speaker 1>egg free. Since nine seven, the National Turkey Federation has

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<v Speaker 1>presented a bird to the President each year, but letting

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<v Speaker 1>the birds live past Thanksgiving Thursday occurred sporadically for the

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<v Speaker 1>next few decades. In nineteen sixty three, just three days

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<v Speaker 1>before his assassination, President John F. Kennedy pardoned the turkey

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<v Speaker 1>Kennedy had received a bird wearing a sign good eating. Mr.

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<v Speaker 1>President Kennedy chose instead not to find out, stating let's

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<v Speaker 1>keep him going in night. First, Lady Rosalind Carter opted

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<v Speaker 1>to send a turkey to live out its life in

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<v Speaker 1>a mini zoo, and by the time Ronald Reagan took office,

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<v Speaker 1>sending the pardon turkeys to farms had become the norm

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<v Speaker 1>an informal fun event. The first official turkey pardoning ceremony

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<v Speaker 1>took place during the presidency of George H. W. Bush

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<v Speaker 1>on November seventeenth. Bush and others headed to the Rose

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<v Speaker 1>Garden to save the life of one lucky bird. Bush said,

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<v Speaker 1>let me assure you and this fine tom turkey that

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<v Speaker 1>he will not end up on anyone's dinner table. Not

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<v Speaker 1>this guy. He's presented a presidential pardon as of right now,

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<v Speaker 1>and allow him to live out his days on a

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<v Speaker 1>children's farm not far from here. All presidents after have

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<v Speaker 1>maintained the tradition. Today they are sent from a different

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<v Speaker 1>US far more farmer each year through the National Turkey Federation.

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<v Speaker 1>More recently, the norm has been for two turkeys to arrive,

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<v Speaker 1>the main turkey and an alternate think a sort of

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<v Speaker 1>turkey understudy to step in and just in case the

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<v Speaker 1>primary turkey behaves badly on stay age. Both turkeys received

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<v Speaker 1>the pardon, though, and live out their days away from

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<v Speaker 1>the dinner table. And just where the turkeys go after

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<v Speaker 1>the ceremonies has changed throughout the years too. Kennedy sent

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<v Speaker 1>the nineteen sixty free turkey back to the farm that

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<v Speaker 1>it came from, while Nixon sent his turkey to a

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<v Speaker 1>petting zoo. During the Obama administration, turkeys named Courage and

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<v Speaker 1>Carolina headed to Disneyland, Yes really. After Courage, the main

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<v Speaker 1>turkey start in the Disneyland Thanksgiving Day parade, he and Carolina,

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<v Speaker 1>the understudy, retired to the Big Thunder Ranch petting zoo.

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<v Speaker 1>But you don't have to be a sitting president to

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<v Speaker 1>make a turkey's day on Thanksgiving. You can take up

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<v Speaker 1>the old call for a poultry free Thursday, but you

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<v Speaker 1>can also adopt a turkey symbolically again wild animal. But

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<v Speaker 1>organizations like Farm Sanctuary let you symbolically adopt a rescued

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<v Speaker 1>spokes turkey for the holiday season for a relatively small donation.

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<v Speaker 1>M Today's episode is based on the article why in

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<v Speaker 1>the world do US President's partnering turkeys? On how stuff

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<v Speaker 1>works dot com, written by Kerry Whitney. Brain Stuff is

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<v Speaker 1>production by Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff works

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