What is behind the turkey pardoning ritual?
- Written by Tobin Miller Shearer, Director of the African-American Studies Program at UM and an Associate Professor of History, The University of Montana
Since 1989, when President George H. W. Bush first formally instituted the practice, U.S. presidents have pardoned a turkey shortly before Thanksgiving each year.
Although the turkeys offer no offense, their presidential pardoning invites the question: What is the significance of such a public rite of forgiveness?
As a researcher of the history of...