Died Pardoned: Notices for the Turkeys the White House Let Go

A turkey raised for the table lives about eighteen to twenty weeks. A presidential pardon commutes the sentence. It does not change the bird. Disney’s parks took the pardoned turkeys from 2005 to 2009, and a Disneyland spokesperson told CNBC that they typically lived about a year.

Rebecca (raccoon, 1926). Sent from Mississippi for the Coolidges’ Thanksgiving dinner. The President had never eaten raccoon and saw no reason to start. She got a collar for Christmas, attended the 1927 Easter Egg Roll, where the Evening Star reported that she “plainly evidenced her dislike for the whole doings,” and escaped so often that in 1928 she was given to the zoo in Rock Creek Park. She is not a turkey. She was on the menu, which is the qualification.

The 1947 bird (unnamed, 47 pounds). Presented to President Truman on 15 December by the National Turkey Federation and the Poultry and Egg National Board, for Christmas. The Truman Library has found no record of a pardon, and notes that Truman sometimes told reporters the turkeys he received were destined for the family dinner table. No cause of death was given. None was needed.

The 1963 bird (unnamed, 55 pounds). Presented to President Kennedy on 19 November wearing a sign that read “Good eating, Mr. President.” He declined the advice. “We’ll just let this one grow,” he said, by the Associated Press’s account, and the bird went home to California for breeding. A twenty-pound frozen turkey that came with the delegation was given, at his request, to the Salvation Army. The accounts consulted give neither date of death. The frozen one’s arrangements were simpler.

Charlie (1987). Already booked into a petting zoo when he met President Reagan. Asked whether he would pardon Oliver North and John Poindexter, the President said, “If they’d given me a different answer on Charlie and his future, I would have pardoned him.” It was the first known time a president used the word about a turkey. Charlie was never charged.

Pumpkin (2008). Named by online vote, with Pecan as the alternate. Pecan did not attend, and the President put him at an undisclosed location. Pumpkin served as grand marshal of Disneyland’s Thanksgiving parade and died in the late summer of 2009. Survived by Pecan, still at Disneyland that November.

Courage (2009). President Obama’s first pardon, sent to Big Thunder Ranch at Disneyland. His death was reported in November 2016, on no known date. He had beaten the park’s forecast by several years.

Gobbler and Cobbler (2012). Sent to Mount Vernon. Gobbler died of natural causes on 5 February 2013. Cobbler fell ill and was put down on 22 August. Both are buried at Mount Vernon. So is George Washington, who was not consulted.

Popcorn and Caramel (2013). Popcorn won the White House’s online vote, and Caramel was spared as runner-up. Both went to Morven Park in Leesburg, Virginia. By October 2015 Popcorn was dead and Caramel was not. “To our knowledge, he’s the longest living presidential pardoned turkey,” said the park, whose staff reported that he fell asleep standing up and was supposedly a Lady Gaga fan. He lost the vote and won the actuarial table.

The WKRP turkeys (1978). Fiction, like the radio station that dropped them. Released from a helicopter over a shopping centre as a Thanksgiving promotion, in an episode first broadcast on 30 October. The station manager’s statement afterwards: “As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.” They are in the television ten. Cause of death: a theory.