• President Eisenhower Feeds a Turkey
    Unknown
    Thanksgiving
    holidays
    In this photograph, President Dwight D. Eisenhower feeds a cranberry to a turkey he received from the Poultry and Egg National Board and the National Turkey Federation. The presentation occurred in the West Garden, which is now the Rose Garden. Presidents and their families have received turkeys for the holidays since the 1870s. The origin of the turkey pardon is said to have started with President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, after he offered a clemency to a turkey purchased for Christmas dinner at his son's request. However, the pardoning of a Thanksgiving turkey became a formalized tradition during the Ronald Reagan administration.