President Donald Trump pardoned an Iowa turkey named Corn during the National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation on Tuesday.
?Corn, I hereby grant you a full pardon,? Trump said in a ceremony at the Rose Garden. ?Thank you, Corn. Happy Thanksgiving to everybody. Thank you very much.?
Corn was picked for the pardon over another Iowa turkey named Cob. The birds came from the ?Presidential Flock? which was raised this year by turkey farmers Ron and Susie Kardel of Walcott, Iowa. In a recent interview with the Iowa Agriculture Literacy Foundation, Ron Kardel spoke about his excitement to be able to raise this year?s flock for the President of the United States.
?Every year for the past 73 years, the White House has issued an invitation for turkeys to attend a ceremony in the White House,? Kardel said. ?It?s kind of the unofficial start of the holiday season. This year, we have the honor of raising them because I?m currently the chairman of the National Turkey Federation. That?s been the tradition in the past is the chairman?s state, or the chairman themselves, raise the turkeys.?
Even though Corn received the pardon from President Trump, the lives of both turkeys will be spared. Following their adventures in the nation?s capital, Corn and Cob will reside at Iowa State University.
?These turkeys will leave here the week of Thanksgiving,? Kardel said. ?They will travel to Washington, D.C. in a van. They will get red carpet treatment going up into The Willard Hotel, which is about a block from the White House. They get a room all to themselves.?
The National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation first took place in 1947 under President Harry S. Truman. In 1987, President Ronald Reagan was the first president on record to issue a pardon to his turkey. The last time Iowa raised turkeys were selected for the ceremony was in 2016 during Barack Obama?s presidency.
