Peach and Blossom continues the turkey tradition in the White House

Peach and Blossom are the two lucky turkeys from Minnesota who will escape a poultry fate by ending up on someone’s Thanksgiving table this year when they are pardoned Monday by President Biden at the White House.

These birds were plucked for the president’s flock and underwent rigorous training to ride the gravy train to the White House for the honor, according to John Zimmerman, president of the National Turkey Federation.

Zimmerman’s 9-year-old son Grant and other young trainers made sure their feathers weren’t ruffled by the spotlight.

“Preparing these presidential birds has taken very special care,” Zimmerman said Sunday during a news conference where he introduced the two turkeys. “We’ve gotten them used to lights, cameras, and even introduced them to a wide variety of music — everything from polka to classic rock.”

Peach and flowerthat weighed 41 and 40 pounds respectively when it hatched back in July. They traveled to Washington this week and were treated to a suite at the Willard InterContinental hotel before their big day on Monday, as is tradition.

After their pardon, the two turkeys will head back to Waseca, Minn., to live out the rest of their feathered lives as “agricultural ambassadors” at Farmamerica, an agricultural interpretive center.

Previous poultry pardoned under Biden include Liberty and Bell in 2023, Chocolate and Chip in 2022 and Peanut Butter and Jelly in 2021.

The White House turkey pardon is an annual tradition that is usually “garnished” full of a cornucopia of corny jokes. This year’s pardon will be the last of Biden’s presidency.

Turkey’s history of pardons

The origins of the president’s turkey pardons are a bit murky. Unofficially, reports point all the way back to Abraham Lincoln, who spared a bird from its death at the urging of his son, Tad. However, that story may be more folklore than fact.

The true beginning of what has evolved into the current tradition has its roots in politics, dating back to Harry Truman’s presidency in 1947.

Truman ruffled feathers by starting “Poultry Free Thursdays” to try to preserve various foods in the aftermath of World War II, but Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s all fell on Thursdays.

After the White House was inundated with live birds sent as part of a “Hens for Harry” counterinitiative, the National Turkey Federation and the Poultry and Egg National Board presented Truman with a bird as a peace offering — even though the turkey was not rescued from a holiday party.

President John F. Kennedy began the trend of publicly sparing a turkey given to the White House in November 1963, days before his assassination. In the following years, the event became a bit more sporadic, with even first ladies such as Pat Nixon and Rosalynn Carter stepping in to greet the guests of honor on their husband’s behalf.

The tradition of public sparring returned in earnest during the Reagan administration, but the official White House tradition of poultry pardons began in 1989, when then-President George HW Bush offered the first official presidential pardon. In the more than three decades since, at least one lucky bird has had a few extra sips each year.