WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden kicked off his final holiday season at the White House on Monday by issuing the traditional reprieve to two turkeys who will bypass the Thanksgiving table to live out their days in southern Minnesota.
The 82-year-old president welcomed 2,500 guests to the South Lawn under sunny skies as he cracked jokes about the fates of “Peach” and “Blossom” and sounded wistful tones about the last weeks of his presidency after a half-century in Washington power circles.
“It’s been the honor of my life. I’m forever grateful,” Biden said, taking note of his impending departure on Jan. 20, 2025. That’s when power will transfer to Republican President-elect Donald Trump, the man that Biden defeated four years ago and was battling again until he was pressured to bow out of the race amid concerns about his age and viability.
Biden relished the brief ceremony with the pardoned turkeys, named for the official flower of the president’s home state of Delaware.
“The peach pie in my state is one of my favorites,” he said during remarks that were occasionally interrupted by Peach gobbling atop the table to Biden’s right. “Peach is making a last-minute plea,” Biden said at one point, drawing laughter from an overflow crowd that included Cabinet members, White House staff and their families, and students from 4H programs and Future Farmers of America chapters.
Biden introduced Peach as a bird who “lives by the motto, ‘Keep calm and gobble on.’” Blossom, the president said, has a different motto: “No fowl play. Just Minnesota nice.”
Peach and Blossom came from the farm of John Zimmerman, near the southern Minnesota city of Northfield. Zimmerman, who has raised about 4 million turkeys, is president of the National Turkey Federation, the group that has gifted U.S. presidents Thanksgiving turkeys since the Truman administration after World War II. President Harry Truman, however, preferred to eat the birds. Official pardon ceremonies did not become an annual White House tradition until the administration of President George H.W. Bush in 1989.
With their presidential reprieve, Peach and Blossom will live out their days at Farmamerica, an agriculture interpretative center near Waseca in southern Minnesota. The center’s aim is to promote agriculture and educate future farmers and others about agriculture in America.
Later Monday, first lady Jill Biden will receive delivery of the official White House Christmas tree that will be on display in the Blue Room. Then the Bidens will travel to New York City for an evening “Friendsgiving” event at a Coast Guard station on Staten Island.
___ Associated Press reporters Darlene Superville in Washington and Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis contributed.