By Betsy Klein

(CNN) — President Donald Trump has leaned into his clemency powers during his second term, dishing out pardons to more than 1,000 January 6 US Capitol rioters, former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, baseball legend Darryl Strawberry, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani — and now: Gobble and Waddle.

Justice will be served at the White House on Tuesday as Trump pardons a pair of turkeys for fowl reasons, participating in the 78th annual National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation.

The president will make much ado about stuffing and appeal to his baste at the Thanksgiving roast, a yearly opportunity for a cornucopia of puns and a moment to give thanks — providing some levity amid a range of global crises and plenty of political upheaval.

Unlike previous years, just one turkey will take part in the ceremonial pardon, injecting little suspense into the process. (Both turkeys, according to the office of the first lady, will ultimately be spared.) First lady Melania Trump’s office invited the American people to vote for which turkey would participate by texting “Gobble” or “Waddle” to 45470.

Hatched last July in North Carolina, Gobble and Waddle weigh in at 52 and 50 pounds, respectively, and rode the gravy train to Washington. They spent their young lives training for their pardon, getting acclimated to loud sounds, big crowds and bright lights ahead of a luxe stay in a suite at the nearby Willard InterContinental Hotel.

Following Tuesday’s festivities, the birds will retreat to North Carolina State University’s Prestage Department of Poultry Science in Raleigh to live out a relieved retirement.

Rumors of turkey pardons go back in presidential history as far as Abraham Lincoln’s administration. Folklore has it that Lincoln’s young son asked his father to spare a pet turkey that was supposed to be part of their Thanksgiving dinner.

A competitive version of the ceremony became national news in 1920, when a turkey from Texas sent to Woodrow Wilson in a White House-shaped crate battled outside the People’s House with a turkey from Kentucky. The Kentucky bird emerged victorious, according to the White House Historical Association.

The National Turkey Federation became the official turkey supplier to the first family in 1947, and the formal turkey presentation ceremony has been around since Harry Truman’s tenure. Truman had asked Americans to observe poultry-less Thursdays to support rationing in Europe after World War II, according to the National Archives. The policy wasn’t very popular, and the federation presented Truman with a live turkey as a sign of protest, kicking off the annual tradition. While Truman was the first to accept a turkey from the group, he did not offer it a pardon.

The first documented turkey pardon was given by John F. Kennedy in 1963, though it didn’t catch on right away. Even though Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon, neither decided to pardon any turkeys as president.

Turkey pardoning became the norm in 1989, when George H.W. Bush revived the tradition, now a staple of the White House holiday season.

This will mark Trump’s fifth turkey pardon, and, like his recent predecessors, he has peppered the event with topical political jokes.

Trump poked fun at the impeachment inquiry against him in 2019, telling a crowd that the turkeys “have already received subpoenas to appear in Adam Schiff’s basement,” referring to the California Democrat, then a congressman.

Former President Joe Biden nodded to the 2022 midterm election dynamics when he pardoned Chocolate and Chip: “The votes are in, they’ve been counted and verified, no ballot stuffing, no fowl play. The only red wave this season is going to be if German shepherd Commander knocks over the cranberry sauce.”

And Barack Obama employed his signature rhetoric in 2016: “I want to take a moment to recognize the great turkeys who weren’t so lucky, who didn’t get to ride the gravy train to freedom. Who met their fate with courage and sacrifice and proved that they weren’t chicken.”

“Yes, we cran,” Obama added.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.