US President Joe Biden pardoned Peach and Blossom, two white-plumed turkeys, on Monday, sparing them from Thanksgiving dinner tables, an annual tradition that also marked the start of the Democrat’s last holiday season at the White House.
This year’s turkeys are named after the Delaware state flower, the peach blossom, which symbolises resilience, Biden, a Delawarean, told a crowd of around 2,500 people on the White House South Lawn, as one of the turkeys gobbled in the background.
Peach weighs 41 pounds (19kg) and loves to eat hot dish (a casserole originating in the US Midwest) and tater tots and his dream is to see the Northern Lights, while Blossom weighs 40 pounds (18kg) and loves to eat cheese curds and watch boxing, Biden quipped.
The true start of what has evolved into the current tradition of turkey pardoning dates back to the Harry Truman presidency in 1947. The official tradition began in 1989 at the White House, when then-president George HW Bush offered the first official presidential pardon.
