Dr. William V. Raszka, our Associate Editor, offers the following insight into a current topic in the news:I did not buy a live turkey this year for Thanksgiving, so when I purchased my bird from the store, it did not so much resemble a bird but a large round package wrapped in plastic. The anonymity of the package may be one reason why I did not feel any remorse planning my holiday meal. However, I wonder what would have happened if I had gone to a farm and selected one to be slaughtered from a gaggle of live turkeys. Would I have felt differently? Would I have bought the turkey and then released it? After all, the President of the United States pardons a turkey each Thanksgiving.
As reported on CNN.com (Holidays: November 22, 2011), the tradition of a Presidential turkey pardon dates back to when Abraham Lincoln was in office. Minutes before the scheduled demise of a pet turkey raised by his son Tad for the holiday meal, Tad burst into a cabinet meeting and pleaded with his father not to kill the bird. President Lincoln wrote the order for a reprieve on a card and the turkey was granted its freedom. The tradition of annual Presidential turkey pardons, however, is a much more recent phenomenon.
President Eisenhower was presented a turkey each Thanksgiving holiday by the National Turkey Federation. President Eisenhower, parsimonious in all his pardons, simply ate the birds. President George H.W. Bush began the modern tradition of pardons in 1989. When presented with a live gobbler for the holiday meal he decreed that the turkey would not be eaten by anyone and granted an official presidential pardon. This year two birds will be selected for pardon. After a Rose garden ceremony, the birds will be taken to Mount Vernon Estates and Gardens where they will be on display until January.
A protected environment for the pardoned turkeys seems like a good idea. I am pretty sure that pardoned domesticated turkeys released into the wild in our neck of the woods would not survive too long. As for me, having raised and then eaten the sheep I raised, I think that “I like Ike.”
Noted by WVR, MD
*This filler excerpt can be found in the January 2012 Pediatrics print journal p.69, or via online here.
