President Harry S. Truman fingers the wattle of a 35-pound tom turkey from Oregon in the White House Rose Garden on Nov. 18, 1952. (Photo: Henry Griffin/AP)
The presidential pardon of the Thanksgiving turkey has become an annual event, but the peace pact between the fowl and the White House is a relatively new thing. And in fact, a few presidents actually ate their guests!
The first president to unofficially pardon a turkey was Abraham Lincoln, who instructed the White House to save a bird given to the president. Lincoln’s son had grown fond of the bird (and the president was a big animal lover).
But Lincoln didn’t start a tradition, and neither did President Harry S. Truman, who is often credited as the father of the presidential turkey pardon. (NationalConstitution Center)
Here’s a look back from Truman to Biden.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower seems highly pleased with the 43-pound Kentucky colonel turkey presented to him at the White House on Nov. 17, 1954. (Photo: Bettmann/Corbis/Getty Images)
Eisenhower with the 40-pound, broad-breasted tom turkey presented to him on Nov. 19, 1956. (Photo: Bettmann/Corbis/Getty Images)
President John F. Kennedy admires a 55-pound turkey, which wears a sign reading “Good Eating, Mr. President!,” on Nov. 19, 1963. (Photo: Bettmann/Corbis/Getty Images)
President Lyndon B. Johnson was presented with this 40-pound broad-breasted white tom turkey on Nov. 16, 1967. (Photo: Bettmann/Corbis/Getty Images)
President Richard Nixon gives the annual pardon to a Thanksgiving turkey on Nov. 19, 1969. (Photo: Wally McNamee/Corbis/Getty Images)
President Gerald Ford is presented with a Thanksgiving turkey on Nov. 20, 1975. (Photo: U.S. National Archives)
First lady Rosalynn Carter and first daughter Amy Carter pardoning a turkey on Nov. 21, 1978. (Photo: Jimmy Carter Presidential Library & Museum)
President Ronald Reagan and the annual pardoning of the Thanksgiving turkey on Nov. 21, 1988. (Photo: NY Daily News via Getty Images)
President George H.W. Bush pardoning a Thanksgiving turkey on Nov. 24, 1992. (Photo: Ron Edmonds/AP)
President Bill Clinton looks on as turkey industry executive Robert Strickler holds a 50-pound turkey presented to the president on Nov. 23, 1994. (Photo: Wilfredo Lee/AP)
Clinton with a 35-pound turkey, wearing a White House visitor's pass, which was presented to him on Nov. 27, 1996. (Photo: Doug Mills/AP)
Clinton, holding his nephew Tyler, 6, pardons a turkey on Nov. 22, 2000. (Photo: Kenneth Lambert/AP)
President George W. Bush pardoning a turkey on Nov. 19, 2001. (Photo: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
President George W. Bush pardoning a turkey on Nov. 17, 2004. (Photo: Ron Edmonds/AP)
President George W. Bush in the Rose Garden of the White House on Nov. 22, 2006. (Photo: Chuck Kennedy/MCT via Getty Images)
President Barack Obama, with daughters Malia, far right, and Sasha, pardons a turkey on Nov. 25, 2009. (Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)
Obama, with Sasha and Malia, pardons a turkey on Nov. 23, 2011. (Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)
Obama, with Sasha and Malia, pardoning a turkey on Nov. 21, 2012. (Photo: J. Scott Applewhite/AP)
Obama, with his daughters, at the turkey pardoning ceremony on Nov. 26, 2014. (Photo: Larry Downing/Reuters)
Obama pardoning a turkey on Nov. 25, 2015. (Photo: Evan Vucci/AP)
Obama after pardoning a turkey, as the president’s nephews Aaron Robinson and Austin Robinson watch, Nov. 23, 2016. (Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)
President Donald Trump at the turkey pardoning ceremony, as son Barron Trump and first lady Melania Trump look on, Nov. 21, 2017. (Photo: Jim Bourg/Reuters)
U.S. President Donald Trump gives a presidential 'pardon' to the National Thanksgiving Turkey Butter during the traditional event with first lady Melania Trump (R) in the Rose Garden of the White House Nov. 26, 2019 in Washington. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
First lady Melania Trump (R) looks on as US President Donald Trump gives the National Thanksgiving Turkey "Corn" a presidential pardon during the traditional event in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC, on November 24, 2020. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)
President Joe Biden pardons the turkey 'Peanut Butter' during the White House Thanksgiving turkey pardon in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC on November 19, 2021. (Olivier Doulliery/AFP via Getty Images)
U.S. President Joe Biden pardons Chocolate, the National Thanksgiving Turkey, as he is joined by the 2022 National Turkey Federation Chairman Ronnie Parker and Alexa Starnes, daughter of the owner of Circle S Ranch, on the South Lawn of the White House November 21, 2022 in Washington, DC. Chocolate, and the alternate, Chip, were raised at Circle S. Ranch, outside of Charlotte, North Carolina, and will reside on the campus of North Carolina State University following today's ceremony. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
President Joe Biden pardons the National Thanksgiving turkey Liberty during a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House on November 20, 2023 in Washington, DC. The 2023 National Thanksgiving Turkey and its alternate Bell, were raised in Willmar, Minnesota and will be housed at the University of Minnesota after their pardoning. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
U.S. President Joe Biden (R) pardons the National Thanksgiving Turkey Peach, alongside Chair of the national turkey federation John Zimmerman and his son Grant during a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House on November 25, 2024 in Washington, DC. Peach, and the alternate turkey Blossom, were raised in Northfield, Minnesota, and continue a White House tradition going back to the Truman administration in 1947. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Police have arrested South Korea’s former defence minister Kim Yong-hyun over his role in last week’s martial law declaration that plunged the country into political turmoil.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote next week on an annual defense bill that includes just over $3 billion for U.S. telecom companies to remove equipment made by Chinese telecoms firms Huawei and ZTE from American wireless networks to address security risks. The 1,800-page text was released late Saturday and includes other provisions aimed at China, including requiring a report on Chinese efforts to evade U.S. national security regulations and an intelligence assessment of the current status of China's biotechnology capabilities. The Federal Communications Commission has said removing the insecure equipment is estimated to cost $4.98 billion but Congress previously only approved $1.9 billion for the "rip and replace" program.
The commander of South Korea's special forces that stormed parliament last week after a martial law declaration said on Monday he was ordered to block lawmakers from entering the chamber to prevent a vote to lift the emergency measure. Colonel Kim Hyun-tae, the commanding officer of the 707th Special Missions Group, told reporters he took all responsibility for his troops' raid on parliament but said he was acting under orders from the defence minister. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who is now a subject of a criminal investigation, declared martial law on Dec. 3 only to rescind the order within hours after parliament met in defiance of a security cordon to vote it invalid.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has apologized to the nation in his first public comments since his abortive attempt to impose martial law threw the country into political chaos and led to calls for his impeachment.
South Korea's main opposition party said Sunday it will try again to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol after his declaration of martial law."The power of the president is not the personal property of President Yoon Suk Yeol," said Lee.
South Korea's embattled President Yoon Suk Yeol avoided an opposition-led attempt to impeach him over his short-lived imposition of martial law, as most ruling party lawmakers boycotted a parliamentary vote Saturday to deny a two-thirds majority needed to suspend his presidential powers. The scrapping of the motion is expected to intensify protests calling for Yoon’s ouster and deepen political chaos in South Korea, with a survey suggesting a majority of South Koreans support the president’s impeachment. Yoon’s martial law declaration drew criticism from his own ruling conservative People Power Party, but the party is also determined to oppose Yoon’s impeachment apparently because it fears losing the presidency to liberals.
While the election was over a month ago, voters in some parts of the country are discovering that having their say at the ballot box is not necessarily the final word. Republican lawmakers in North Carolina are moving to undercut the authority of the incoming Democratic governor, Republicans in Missouri are taking initial steps to reverse voter-approved abortion protections, and Democrats in Massachusetts are watering down an attempt by voters to hold the Legislature more accountable. “I think certainly when you’re a voter and you’re voting on the issue, you’re not thinking about whether someone’s then going to overturn or just ignore the things that you voted on,” said Anne Whitesell, an assistant professor of political science at Miami University in Ohio.
Syrian rebels appear to have entered the capital Damascus after facing scant resistance from regime forces, as President Bashar al-Assad’s decades-long grip on power appeared to wane by the minute.
The Biden administration announced on Saturday nearly $1 million in arms support for Ukraine, the Department of Defense said in a press release. The $988 million assistance package will provide the country with munitions for rocket systems and unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and support for maintenance and repair programs to help Ukraine’s military “build and…
Hundreds of people appear to have fled the central Syrian city of Homs overnight into Friday, as anti-regime rebels push further south on the road to the capital Damascus.
Counter-terror police are investigating reports that an Oxford Union speaker broke the law by “expressing support” for Hamas during a debate on Israel.
The people who run Canada's universities and colleges are warning that Ottawa's crackdown on international student visas threatens the viability of post-secondary institutions — and could leave students in more remote communities with fewer options.In September, the federal government announced it would slash the number of visas it issues by another 10 per cent. The new target for 2025 and 2026 will be 437,000 permits. In 2024, the target was 485,000 permits.Pari Johnston, president of Colleges
