Biden pardons turkeys Peach and Blossom during final Thanksgiving event

Annual tradition that spares turkeys from Thanksgiving dinner tables also marked start of Biden’s last holiday season at the White House

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US President Joe Biden, right, with chairman of the National Turkey Federation John Zimmerman, left, his son Grant Zimmerman, centre, and Peach, the national Thanksgiving turkey during a pardoning ceremony at the White House in Washington on Monday. Photo: AP

Published: 2:24am, 26 Nov 2024

US President Joe Biden pardoned Peach and Blossom, two white-plumed turkeys, on Monday, sparing them from Thanksgiving dinner tables, an annual tradition that also marked the start of the Democrat’s last holiday season at the White House.

This year’s turkeys are named after the Delaware state flower, the peach blossom, which symbolises resilience, Biden, a Delawarean, told a crowd of around 2,500 people on the White House South Lawn, as one of the turkeys gobbled in the background.

“This event marks the official start of the holiday season here in Washington. It’s also my last time to speak here as your president during this season and give thanks and gratitude. So let me say to you – it’s been the honour of my life, I am forever thankful,” Biden said.

Peach weighs 41 pounds (19kg) and loves to eat hot dish (a casserole originating in the US Midwest) and tater tots and his dream is to see the Northern Lights, while Blossom weighs 40 pounds (18kg) and loves to eat cheese curds and watch boxing, Biden quipped.

National Thanksgiving turkeys Blossom and Peach roam the South Lawn ahead of their pardoning by Biden at the White House in Washington on Monday. Photo: Reuters

The true start of what has evolved into the current tradition of turkey pardoning dates back to the Harry Truman presidency in 1947. The official tradition began in 1989 at the White House, when then-president George HW Bush offered the first official presidential pardon.