Each year the National Turkey Federation selects a turkey, or sometimes two, to send to the White House for the Thanksgiving festivities, where the turkey receives a presidential pardon before being ushered off to a lovely nearby farm to live out its life.
This year, the time has come and the pre-pardoning press conference showed Tuesday two beautiful big turkeys arriving in Washington, D.C., and staying in a room at the Willard InterContinental hotel downtown, until their big day, according to ABC News.
Tom One and Tom Two (Tom Two is the backup turkey) arrived from Modesto, Calif., in style, as every presidential turkey should. Loading onto a plane at San Francisco International Airport, after arriving in black sedans with dark tinted windows, surrounded by security guards in shades and suits, the turkeys arrived safely.
Wednesday will be the official pardoning, and also the naming ceremony, which is done by children at the White House; Tom One and Tom Two are the temporary names given.
Fifth graders were allowed to select the turkey in Sonoma Valley, Calif., and Tom One was a unanimous winner as he strutted about, puffed up his feathers, gobbled and wowed the kids.
"I think that bird is going to be lucky for the rest of his life, man," said Angel Avila, a 10-year-old student at Eisenhut Elementary in Modesto, according to NBC Bay Area.
The turkey pardoning has some colorful history, with the first official pardon credited to John F. Kennedy, although stories go back to Abraham Lincoln. The lore tells that Lincoln's son came to him and begged for him to spare the life of a turkey, saying the turkey had as much of a right to live as anything else, and he was granted his wish.
Harry S. Truman was the first president to receive a turkey from the National Turkey Federation, which he gladly accepted, but he did not show mercy on the turkey. Nor did Gerald Ford, who pardoned Richard Nixon, but not the turkey, according to Fox 2 Now.
The actually pardoning of a turkey didn't come back into fashion until 1989 when then President George H.W. Bush pardoned the turkey given to him to save its life. Every president since has followed suit, making it a well-documented tradition.
