# When they pardon the White House Turkey, does another get the axe?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-they-pardon-the-white-house-turkey-does-another-get-the-axe/94697>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 22, 2001, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-they-pardon-the-white-house-turkey-does-another-get-the-axe/94697 "2001-11-22T02:35:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![pezwookiee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@pezwookiee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pezwookiee)\
**Post date:** [November 25, 2001, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-they-pardon-the-white-house-turkey-does-another-get-the-axe/94697/21 "2001-11-25T01:03:13Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Triskadecamus \*  
> **…the process of allowing turkeys to die from the effects of overeating became a political statement.**

This seems to make a lot of sense in a strange way.

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**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2002, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-they-pardon-the-white-house-turkey-does-another-get-the-axe/94697/22 "2002-11-30T22:21:43Z")

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I dunno if it’s worth resurrecting this thread, but I had the same question and found this on a search.

Here’s a followup question: if a president were to stop this tradition, would he be generally supported by the public on this? I would say yes, since it’s easily shown to be hypocritical when they simple eat a different turkey. Unless the president goes vegetarian, which probably won’t happen in my lifetime.

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**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2002, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-they-pardon-the-white-house-turkey-does-another-get-the-axe/94697/23 "2002-11-30T23:38:08Z")

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Had to find out just the other day how many turkeys get axed for Thanksgiving. My research led me to this site: [Minnesota Turkey Research & Promotion Council](http://www.minnesotaturkeys.com/press_pages/pressdocs.php?doc=trivia)

They have this to say:

> [@](#):
>
> # For over 50 years, the National Turkey Federation has presented the President of the U.S. with a live turkey and two dressed turkeys in celebration of Thanksgiving. Harry Truman was the first president to receive this honor in 1947. Each year, the live turkey is “pardoned” by the president and sent to a historical farm to live out the rest of its years.

Other interesting tidbits I gleaned from it:  
[ul][li]45 million turkeys get the axe for Thanksgiving.[/li][li]22 million for Christmas.[/li]19 million for Easter.[/ul]

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