THE CIVICS PROJECT: Fun facts about the turkey, the presidential pardon, and Thanksgiving

Q. Where did the President pardoning turkeys on Thanksgiving come from?

A. There might not be a more quintessential national bird than the turkey, which is native to North America. Indeed, there is an apocryphal story that Founding Father and American luminary Benjamin Franklin suggested the turkey as the official bird of the United States, instead of the bald eagle. I suspect the failure of this suggestion had something to do with the more appealing image and perception of the bald eagle. Despite the turkey’s importance and history in this country, no one really wants to be a turkey.

Oddly, turkey likely wasn't served during the first Thanksgiving

The turkey is associated with Thanksgiving, which commemorates a harvest celebration between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians in 1621. This year is the 401st anniversary of that first Thanksgiving. Interestingly, turkey was probably not served during that first Thanksgiving. Nonetheless, a holiday was proclaimed in 1789 by President George Washington, who issued a presidential declaration marking Nov. 26 as a National Day of Thanksgiving. Subsequent presidents made similar declarations, but the dates changed until 1863, when President Abraham Lincoln established that the holiday would be celebrated on the last Thursday of November. Congress did not formally make Thanksgiving a legal national holiday until 1941 and later that same year, changed it to the fourth Thursday in November.

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When, exactly, was the first turkey pardon? You might be surprised

The origination of the turkey pardon is a bit nebulous. The best story is that it goes back to Lincoln. This somewhat dubious tale tells us that Lincoln’s son, Tad, begged his father to save a turkey that was intended for the dinner table. Lincoln, moved by his son’s plea, spared the bird and thus started a custom that would last through today. The less enjoyable alternative narrative is that the tradition was a well-conceived marketing plan by some of America’s turkey farmers, who provided a bird to President Harry Truman in 1947 for the purpose of reminding Americans that turkeys were the right choice for their Thanksgiving feast. However, even that is not clear. It actually wasn’t until 1989 that we had the first official turkey pardon by then-President George H.W. Bush.

You might think this tradition of pardoning birds, who as far as we know are guilty of no crimes, is an odd custom. However, it is a non-partisan media event for Presidents, allowing them to be seen in the media as both generous and relatable. It’s good, if somewhat simplistic, politics. Elections are often harsh and competitive, so this provides a nice contrast with a more positive event that includes pictures of Presidents and their families with a saved turkey or two. It allows various media outlets to fill space in an otherwise slower news week.

The social media campaign in 2012 when you could "save" a turkey

It is even a clever way to build social media outreach. In 2012, President Obama used Facebook to organize a vote that allowed Americans to save one of two turkeys named Gobbler and Cobbler. Voters may have been saving a turkey, but they were also probably making themselves part of a larger social and distribution network available to the White House. If you are curious, the vote turned out to be unnecessary, as the President pardoned both turkeys.

Kevin Wagner is a noted constitutional scholar and political science professor at Florida Atlantic University. The answers provided do not necessarily represent the views of the university. If you have a question about how American government and politics work, email him at kwagne15@fau.edu or reach him on Twitter @kevinwagnerphd. You can read past columns here: https://www.palmbeachpost.com/search/?q=kevin+wagner

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: THE CIVICS PROJECT: How the turkey pardon took wing