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How Did Turkey Become A Thanksgiving Centerpiece?
We find the answer in Bradford’s Journals of 1775. Reprints occur in the 1850s.
The idea of early colonists hunting wild turkeys caught the nation’s imagination, but they did not specify that folks served turkey at Thanksgiving.
Sarah Josepha Hale is the editor of the magazine Godey’s Lady’s Book. She would later present the turkey as the big bird at the head of the table and publish many recipes.
Hale campaigned for Thanksgiving Day to be a national holiday. She wrote to the presidents in office. Finally, Abraham Lincoln took notice. In 1863, President Lincoln made Thanksgiving a national holiday, and they prepared turkeys for dinner across the country.
Every November since 1947, on National Thanksgiving Day, the United States President receives a turkey. President Harry Truman got the first one. Then, during an official ceremony in the Rose Garden, the President pardons the turkey to spare its life.
