Liberty and Bell can spread their wings without fear. The two Thanksgiving turkeys played their part on Monday in an annual holiday tradition at the White House: a president sparing them from becoming someone’s dinner.
The event, held on the South Lawn this year instead of the smaller Rose Garden, marks the unofficial start of the holiday season in Washington, and Monday was an especially busy opening day.
US President Joe Biden, the oldest president in US history, also celebrated turning 81 on Monday. In the afternoon, his wife, first lady Jill Biden, was accepting the delivery of an 18.5-ft (5.6-metre) Fraser fir from Fleetwood, North Carolina, as the official White House Christmas tree.
Biden joked about his age, saying: “This is the 76th anniversary of this event. I want you to know I wasn’t there for the first one.” The Democrat’s age has become an issue as he seeks re-election next year.
Steve Lykken, chairman of the National Turkey Federation and president of the Jennie-O Turkey Store, told Associated Press in an interview last week that the pardons are a “great way to kick off the holiday season and really, really a fun honour.”
Lykken introduced Liberty and Bell on Sunday at the Willard Intercontinental, a luxury hotel near the White House. The gobblers checked into a suite there on Saturday following their red-carpet arrival in the US capital after a long drive from Minnesota in a black Cadillac Escalade.
“They were raised like all of our turkeys, protected, of course, from weather extremes and predators, free to walk about with constant access to water and feed,” Lykken said at Sunday’s event as Liberty and Bell strutted around the Willard’s newly renovated Crystal Room on plastic sheeting laid over the carpet. Young children in the crowd of onlookers – many of them employees and guests of the Jennie-O company – called out “gobble, gobble” to them.
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The male turkeys, both about 20 weeks old and about 42 pounds (19kg), were hatched in July in Willmar, Minnesota – Jennie-O is headquartered there – as part of the “presidential flock,” Lykken said. They listened to music and other sounds to prepare them for Monday’s hoopla at the White House.
“They listened to all kinds of music to get ready for the crowds and people along the way. I can confirm they are, in fact, Swifties, and they do enjoy some Prince,” Lykken said, meaning that Liberty and Bell are fans of Taylor Swift. “I think they’re absolutely ready for prime time.”
The tradition dates to 1947 when the National Turkey Federation, which represents turkey farmers and producers, first presented a National Thanksgiving Turkey to President Harry Truman.
In 1989, as animal rights activists picketed nearby, President George HW Bush said: “But let me assure you, and this fine tom turkey, that he will not end up on anyone’s dinner table, not this guy – he’s granted a presidential pardon as of right now – and allow him to live out his days on a children’s farm not far from here.”
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After Biden pardons his third pair of turkeys on Monday, Liberty and Bell will be returned to their home state to be cared for by the University of Minnesota’s College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resources Sciences.
“You can imagine the wonderful care they’re going to get from students and veterinarians and professors, etc, and so they will hopefully have a chance, maybe, to go see a hockey game or spend time with Goldy the gopher,” Lykken said, referring to the university’s mascot.
A little over 200 million turkeys will be eaten on Thanksgiving, Lykken said.
Biden will eat his Thanksgiving turkey with family on Nantucket, a Massachusetts island, continuing a long family tradition. On Sunday, he and the first lady served an early Thanksgiving meal to hundreds of service members at Norfolk Naval Station in Virginia.