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Since the Truman Administration, the National Turkey Federation’s chairman has selected turkeys from the “Presidential Flock” for the First Family’s Thanksgiving. (President George H.W. Bush was the first to begin pardoning two birds.)
“The National Thanksgiving Turkey is raised the same as every other turkey, except for the one-on-one attention necessary to prepare for a Rose Garden crowd, the White House press corps and, of course, the leader of the free world,” said NTF President Joel Brandenberger. “The 2016 birds will spend their days as mascots cared for by Virginia Tech poultry science veterinarians and students.”