Today was Freedom Day at the White House. Of Libertad and of Campana, his companion. The two turkeys that US President Joe Biden traditionally granted a pardon on the eve of Thanksgiving, the biggest holiday in the American calendar. After the humorous ceremony that kicks off the winter festival season in the United States, the pair of birds are now guaranteed to spend the rest of their days in an animal shelter and that neither will ever end up as a gala dinner at A Family’s meal.
The pardon, on a cloudy and cold day, coincided with Biden’s 81st birthday. The president took the opportunity to joke about his age, perhaps in reference to polls showing the majority of citizens believe he is too old to run for the White House again.
“This is the 76th anniversary of that ceremony. And I want to make it clear to you that I wasn’t there in the first part. “I was too young,” he declared to laughter from an audience made up of White House officials, students from Washington schools and children of workers at the presidential residence.
“That’s a huge turkey, guys. “I’m impressed,” he added as one of the birds on the table he was standing on began flapping its wings. “I hereby forgive Libertad and Campana. Congratulations, birds.”
It was a very busy few days for Campana (“Bell”) and Libertad (“Liberty”), two white males, four months old and weighing twenty kilos each. They were selected at a farm in the town of Willmar, Minnesota, and arrived in Washington this weekend for the official presentation and ceremony of their new lives. They had stayed at the Willard, a five-star hotel and one of the most luxurious hotels near the White House. “They checked in, went to their rooms, looked at the map to see what there was to do in the city, took a bubble bath and told me that they had something from the minibar,” hotel manager Markus Platzer explained in a statement to the conference. Press release introducing the couple.
They also enjoyed luxury along the way. The two animals, whose names were chosen in reference to the Liberty Bell that called the meetings of congressmen in Philadelphia in 1776 on the road to American independence, had been transported in a Cadillac limousine – in a cage, yes – for the twenty hours of – Road trip from Willmar to Washington, completed over three days.
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Both specimens had been chosen not only for their immaculate whiteness, but also for their extroverted personalities, capable of surviving a ceremony as busy as that at the White House on Monday without incident. “They are absolutely ready for a big audience,” said Steve Lykken, president of the National Turkey Foundation. This organization is responsible for proposing pairs of turkeys that can benefit from the pardon, from which one is selected by popular vote.
Every year around this time, millions of turkeys are slaughtered and eaten in the United States. This bird is the main dish and traditional food at Thanksgiving dinner, commemorating the help in the form of food that the first British settlers received from the native population during their first harsh winter. For decades, this tradition has been joined by the presidential pardon of the turkey couple: the officially pardoned person and their deputy.
According to tradition, the son of future President Abraham Lincoln was the first to ask for mercy on a turkey. He asked his father not to sacrifice the animal that the family wanted to eat on Thanksgiving. In the 20th century, President Harry Truman became the first head of state to accept the gift of a turkey from the foundation.
But we had to wait for the term of John F. Kennedy (1961-1963) for an American president to spare the life of a turkey in the American presidential residence. And his successors, Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, did not continue this burgeoning tradition. The person who revived the idea and made it an annual event was President George Bush in 1989. Since then, every head of state in the country has pardoned a few turkeys, from Bill Clinton to Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump.
After the White House ceremony was over and the pardon was formalized, Campana and Libertad returned to their state of origin. There they will be cared for by the University of Minnesota College of Food and Agricultural and Natural Resources Sciences, on whose farms they will spend the rest of their lives.
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