
1820: Tokyo Rose
Thanksgiving History, Lincoln Proclamation, and Presidential Turkey Pardons
A deconstruction of Thanksgiving origins challenges the traditional pilgrim narrative, attributing the modern holiday to an 1863 proclamation by Abraham Lincoln influenced by magazine editor Sarah Josepha Hale. The history of the presidential turkey pardon is traced from Harry Truman's grain conservation efforts to the formal tradition established by George H.W. Bush in 1989. Mention is made of John F. Kennedy's 1963 informal sparing of a turkey just days before his assassination.







