PRESIDENTIAL TURKEY PARDON AN ANNUAL TRADITION:Custom Began With Lincoln in 1863

Each year just before Thanksgiving, the President ceremoniously pardons a turkey, a light-hearted moment in his otherwise grueling schedule. The tradition is traced to Abraham Lincoln, who wrote a pardon at the behest of his youngest son, Tad, in 1863.

Though the origin is debated, many researchers believe that Lincoln was the first to bestow a Presidential pardon on a turkey, thus saving it from the dinner table. The reprieve, though, was actually issued at Christmas.

In late 1863, the Lincolns received a turkey as a gift, and though the bird was intended for Christmas dinner, nine-year-old T...