A presidential tradition since Ronald Reagan, the presidential pardon of a Thanksgiving Turkey is part of the daffiness that makes this country a joy to live in. Presidents have received formal Thanksgiving turkeys since Harry Truman. Both Truman and Eisenhower, practical men who had known poverty growing up, ate the Turkeys given to them. (I assume the idea of turning away gift food would have struck them as blasphemous.) Kennedy spared one Turkey in 1963 and Nixon let a few escape the oven. It is appropriate that Reagan, tender hearted and a born showman, began the presidential pardon of our delicious native bird in 1987.
Yes, Thanksgiving is truly a day for forgiveness. It is a sort of National Holy Day.
“our National family” – I like it