In the history of the United States, every year, a ritual takes place on the South Lawn of the White House: the President pardons two turkeys, sparing them from a Thanksgiving dinner. Last Monday, President Biden celebrated his 81st birthday while performing this tradition, joking about his age and the fact that he had been too young to be present at the first turkey pardon. He presented Liberty and Bell, two 42-pound turkeys, and pardoned them with the declaration, “Congratulations, birds. Congratulations.”
The event was sprinkled with puns and bad jokes, including President Biden poking fun at his own age and mistakenly mixing up pop music icons. When describing the arduous journey of the turkeys to the White House, he joked that it would be harder than getting a ticket to the Renaissance tour or Britney Spears’. In reference to where the turkeys were named, President Biden mentioned the swing state of Pennsylvania, alluding to its significance in the upcoming election.
Although the tradition officially began in 1947, there are legends of President Abraham Lincoln being the first to pardon a turkey in 1863. Liberty and Bell are set to retire in Minnesota, where they will lead a comfortable life at the University of Minnesota’s College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences. President Biden expressed his awe at the size of the turkeys and then focused on the significance of his visit to Pennsylvania, a state he has frequented the most since his election.
