National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation
The early years also included a joint presentation with the Poultry and Egg National Board.
[1] It is a tradition that the turkeys be picked from the chairperson of the NTF's home state, occasionally from the chair's own farm.
This, along with Vose's death that December, set off a free-for-all in which numerous farmers tried to be the one to supply the annual holiday turkeys to the president.
Calvin Coolidge, alarmed at the number of turkeys being offered to the president at the time, briefly stopped the tradition upon assuming office in 1923 and chose to buy his own turkey; he relented in 1925 and was soon bombarded with an unusual array of animals to eat, including Rebecca, a live raccoon that Coolidge received in 1926 and, unwilling to eat it, designated as a White House pet.
Not only did American citizens quickly grow frustrated with the (voluntary, but strongly encouraged) restrictions and begin disregarding them in short order, the National Poultry and Egg Board, incensed at the attack on their industry, noted that not only was Thanksgiving on a Thursday, but Christmas and New Year's Day also landed on a Thursday that year.
[14][2] The phrase "presidential pardon" in that ceremony was apparently inserted by a speechwriter; Bush initially was indifferent to the terminology, saying "'Reprieve', 'keep him going', or 'pardon': it's all the same for the turkey, as long as he doesn't end up on the president's holiday table.
[16] A flock of between 50 and 80 birds, typically from the farm of the current National Turkey Federation chairperson and hatched in early summer, are selected to be acclimated to handle loud noises, flash photography and large crowds; in late October or early November,[26] the 10 to 20 best-preened and best-behaved of that flock are chosen and eventually narrowed down to two finalists, whose names are chosen by the White House staff from suggestions by school children from the state where they were raised.
Broad Breasted White turkeys are bred for large size, are sedentary animals and have a predilection for overeating,[29] making them prone to health problems associated with obesity such as heart disease, respiratory failure, joint damage and reduced life spans compared to wild or heritage turkeys.
[31] The lifespans of the pardoned turkeys have steadily improved in recent years, frequently having lifespans of over two years and occasionally reaching three years of age, an improvement attributed to better choices of homes after the pardons; rather than serving solely as tourist attractions, the turkeys are now placed in the care of experts who make conscious efforts to maintain the turkeys' health for as long as possible.
[92] Animals at the center of such narratives include Wilbur in Charlotte's Web (1952); the eponymous and fictional star of Babe (1995); Christopher Hogwood in Sy Montgomery's The Good, Good Pig (2006);[91] the Tamworth Two; Emily the Cow and Cincinnati Freedom.
A 2012 study found that most media reporting on the turkey-pardoning ceremony celebrated the poultry industry while marginalizing the link between living animals and meat.
In David Mamet's play November, an incumbent president losing his bid for reelection uses the yearly tradition to extort the turkey farmers to add to his lacking campaign fund.
He then proceeds to call Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, a fictional British Prince and the main love interest of the book, to discuss the turkeys.
