Everything I Learned About the Turkey Pardoning Ceremony

It's almost Thanksgiving and that means it's time for the President to pardon a turkey for the annual turkey pardoning. This year President Trump has the choice between two turkeys named Corn and Cob. The official White House Twitter account held a poll asking which of the two should be spared, along with some facts about both turkeys. In the end, Twitter decided to have Corn be spared.

Check out the sweet room Corn and Cob get to stay at while awaiting their pardoning.

Corn and Cob's journey to the White House is pretty lush for a bird that doesn't even fly. President Trump held the ceremony in the Rose Garden where he gave Corn a full pardon.

Since today is the day of the pardoning, I decided to look into this tradition (which, apparently, Buzz hates!) as I had a few questions. Here's what I found out:

• The National Turkey Federation began presenting the president with the official National Thanksgiving Turkey in 1947, under President Harry S. Truman.
• Both turkeys receive a pardon, but only ONE turkey will be named the "National Thanksgiving Turkey"
• After the pardoning, the turkeys will go to live out their lives on farms. Corn and Cob will Corn and Cob will reside at Iowa State University and participate in CALS teaching and outreach activities. 
• The turkeys are only expected to live another year or so. Though turkeys can live up to about four years, the official presidential pardon turkeys have only lived to age 2 at most.
• Abraham Lincoln was the first ever on record to pardon a turkey, but it was for Christmas. The first president to pardon a Thanksgiving turkey was President Kennedy. Then, President Regan was the first to actually use the word "Pardon" in 1987.

Buzz may think this is the stupidest thing ever, I still think it's pretty cute. Congratulations to Corn and Cob!