The first president associated with pardoning a turkey is Abraham Lincoln , who is believed to have spared a turkey at the request of his son Tad in the 1860s, effectively granting it a kind of informal “pardon.”

Quick Scoop: Short Answer

  • Historically, Abraham Lincoln is often cited as the first president to “pardon” a turkey, when he spared a bird named Jack that had been destined for the family’s holiday meal.
  • However, the modern, official annual turkey pardon ceremony—as a formal, on-camera presidential event—did not begin until George H. W. Bush in 1989.

So, if someone asks “who was the first president to pardon a turkey,” the historically playful answer is Abraham Lincoln , but the first to make it an official, recurring White House tradition was George H. W. Bush.

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