It is a tried and tested Thanksgiving tradition – and for US President Biden the good deed of the day on his 81st birthday. He saved the turkeys “Liberty” and “Bell” from fate as holiday feasts.
“Liberty” and “Bell” will survive Thanksgiving – thank US President Joe Biden. The two stately white turkeys from Minnesota, weighing almost 20 kilos, were pardoned in front of the White House.
The two birds were named after the Liberty Bell in Pennsylvania – a national symbol of freedom and independence in the USA. So these two birds have “a new appreciation for the term ‘Let freedom ring,'” Biden said.
Musical mix-up at the lectern
Biden, who is celebrating his 81st birthday today, jogged dynamically to the lectern, but did not manage to make his short appearance across the stage without a mishap.
The two turkeys had to overcome tough odds to make it to the White House for pardons, he said. That “was harder than getting a ticket for the Renaissance tour or Britney’s tour.” It’s very warm down there in Brazil right now, Biden said – and obviously confused the singers Britney Spears and Taylor Swift.
The two turkeys pardoned for Thanksgiving, “Liberty” and “Bell.”
The turkeys are moving to university
The two turkeys are now returning to cold Minnesota and spending their retirement at the university there in the agricultural faculty.
The tradition of pardons may date back to President Abraham Lincoln. Apparently his son asked him to spare a tame turkey the fate of the roasting tube. However, pardons only became an annual event under President George W. Bush at the end of the 1980s.