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Joe Biden
WorldUnited States & Canada

Biden pardons Thanksgiving turkeys while marking 81st birthday with jokes about his age

  • The pardoning tradition dates to 1947 when the National Turkey Federation first presented a National Thanksgiving Turkey to President Harry Truman
  • 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’

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US President Joe Biden pardons the National Thanksgiving Turkey, Liberty, during a ceremony with Jose Rojas, assistant vice president of live production at the Jennie-O Turkey Store, left, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on Monday. Photo: CNP / Bloomberg
Associated Press

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.

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“I hereby pardon Liberty and Bell. Congratulations, birds,” US President Joe Biden said after one of the National Thanksgiving Turkeys was placed on a table near him.

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, centre, arrives to pardon the National Thanksgiving Turkey at the White House in Washington on Monday. Photo: EPA-EFE
US President Joe Biden, centre, arrives to pardon the National Thanksgiving Turkey at the White House in Washington on Monday. Photo: EPA-EFE

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.

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