This Thanksgiving, two turkeys from Minnesota will travel to the White House to be pardoned by President Obama. The annual tradition began in 1947 when the Poultry and Egg National Board presented a live turkey to President Truman for the holiday. Earlier presentation birds did not fare as well as their modern day counterparts and were handed over for, ahem,dining, rather than pardoning.
This photo shows the Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation to President Nixon on November 18, 1969. As you might imagine, we’ve got a number of POTUS photos from previous turkey days in our holdings. More to come next week.
What’s on your Thanksgiving menu?
Source: research.archives.gov
Wednesday Lunch Break
Surplus Commodities: School Lunch Programs, ca. 1936
Item from Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs, 1882 - 1962.
Jack and Jackie, 58 years ago today
Jacqueline Lee Bouvier and John F. Kennedy were married on the morning of September 12, 1953, in Newport, Rhode Island. The reception was held on the terrace of the 300 acre Auchincloss oceanfront estate, Hammersmith Farm.
The couple cut a five-tier wedding cake at the luncheon. The menu also included fruit cup, creamed chicken, and ice cream sculpted to resemble roses.
Wheatless Wednesdays; Meatless Mondays; Porkless Patriots
Today’s What’s Cooking Wednesday features food history from 1918. As head of the U.S. Food Administration during World War I, Herbert Hoover urged Americans to avoid the forced planing and rationing common to Europe through voluntary food conservation. These printed reminders were hung in households that pledged to “Hooverize.”
-From the Hoover Library
Richard Nixon’s last meal at the White House.
Thanks, Smithsonian. We’re psyched for the Presidential Libraries close-up in your food history feature.
