By Christopher Ringle

While conducting research for my historical fiction novels, I’ve occasionally run across some fascinating Presidential tidbits about Thanksgiving over the years. I thought I’d share a few of them here.

Yesterday, President Joe Biden pardoned two large turkeys from Minnesota. One was named “Liberty”, the other “Bell.”

The last several presidents have also granted clemency to a turkey that would otherwise be served for Thanksgiving dinner. For instance, Bill Clinton pardoned “Harry the Turkey” in 1999, George W Bush pardoned “Biscuits” and “Gravy”, Barack Obama pardoned “Tater” and “Tot” in 2016, and Donald Trump pardoned “Butter” in 2019.

This clemency tradition apparently goes back to Abraham Lincoln in the early 1860s. The turkey that was to be served at President Lincoln’s family Christmas meal was the pet of the President’s son, Tad. Tad asked his father to spare his pet and Lincoln agreed.

Several Thanksgiving curiosities stand out over the 247 years of our nation’s history. Here are a few.

On November 28, 1878, President Rutherford B. Hayes, his wife, guests, their clerks and house staff all ate Thanksgiving dinner together in the White House State Dining Room. When they finished, they went to the Red Room to sing hymns and visit with each other.

The President and Mrs. Hayes had previously arranged for all the White House chefs, wait staff, and all others who had helped prepare the President’s Thanksgiving meal to assemble at the State Dining Room table after the President’s party had adjourned the room and enjoy their own Thanksgiving at the same table as the President and his guests had eaten.

News reports at the time indicated that the cooking staff, the majority of whom were African-Americans, were deeply moved by the President’s gesture of generosity and appreciation.

The McKinley formal dinner, Courtesy, Library of Congress

In 1897, President McKinley and his family had a 27-pound turkey, stuffed with oysters, as the main entrée.

In 1902, President Teddy Roosevelt and his family were living in the White House during a renovation project. When Roosevelt found out that the workers on the site were working very tight schedules and were going to miss their own Thanksgiving meals at home, he asked his kitchen staff to prepare and deliver meals to those workers.

Mrs. Coolidge and the White House Raccoon, Courtesy, Library of Congress

In 1926, President Calvin Coolidge had a supporter in Mississippi offer to send a raccoon for Thanksgiving dinner. Rather than decline, the Coolidge family received the raccoon, but instead of eating it for thanksgiving, they made it a pet. In fact, for Christmas that year, they gave the raccoon a collar that said “White House Raccoon” on it.

President Coolidge delivers speech, Courtesy, Library of Congress

In 1927, President Coolidge also had the distinction of being the first president to deliver his Thanksgiving proclamation on the radio.

President Franklin Roosevelt and family aboard the USS Indianapolis, Courtesy, Library of Congress

FDR was the first President to celebrate Thanksgiving outside the United States. He was in the south Atlantic on board the U.S.S. Indianapolis on his way to a peace conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Truman Thanksgiving menu, Courtesy, Library of Congress

I ran across a Thanksgiving dinner menu from 1947 when the Trumans lived in the White House. Notice the simple edits the President, or perhaps his wife Bess Truman, made to the menu.

November 20, 1975, was the first time the President, Gerald R. Ford, the turkey (unnamed) and the presenter (Marvin DeWitt of Zeeland, Michigan) were all from the same state.

Carter Thanksgiving menu, Courtesy, Library of Congress

In 1977, the original menu for President Jimmy Carter’s Thanksgiving meal listed green peas with mushrooms. Turns out, the President strongly disliked green peas and the family requested fresh green beans instead.

In 2015, President Obama and his family spent part of their Thanksgiving Day serving dinner to local homeless folks and veterans.

In 2016, the last year President Obama was in the White House, the family and their guests could select from six types of pies for dessert: banana cream, coconut, pumpkin, apple, pecan, and cherry. This may have been at the request of the First Daughters, Sasha and Malia.

I hope you have enjoyed these White House Thanksgiving memories. If you like occasional articles like this one, please explore Junction Books and the historical fiction novels featured there. Thank you!