[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 48 (Monday, December 2, 1996)]
[Pages 2440-2441]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at the Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation Ceremony

November 27, 1996

    Please sit down. You can hear I'm hoarse. I just got back from a 
long trip. But if you'll bear with me, I will--I'll do my best to talk. 
[Laughter]
    I want to, first of all, thank the chairman of the National Turkey 
Federation, Jim Cooper, and his family for bringing the turkey here, all 
the way from Oakwood, Ohio. His Congressman, Representative Paul 
Gillmor, is here; I welcome him as well. I want to thank Stuart Proctor, 
the president of the National Turkey Federation, and Joel Brandenberger, 
the executive director. I want to thank the volunteers and young people 
from the Big Brothers and the Big Sisters program and the Boys and Girls 
Club of America for being here.
    You all know why we're here. Tomorrow 45 million turkeys will play 
the supreme sacrifice for our Thanksgiving. So, continuing a tradition 
begun 50 years ago by President Truman, I am going to keep at least one 
tur

[[Page 2441]]

key off of the Thanksgiving dinner table by giving a pardon to a turkey 
from Ohio that will now go to the petting zoo that Kidwell Farms 
maintains in Fairfax, Virginia.
    We can all be grateful, therefore, that there will be one less 
turkey in Washington, DC, tomorrow. [Laughter] Let me thank the turkey 
farmers in Ohio, in my native State of Arkansas, and throughout the 
country for the fine job that they do all year long, and say how very 
grateful I am to see all the children here.
    Now, let's pardon this bird. Thank you for coming.

Note: The President spoke at 10:35 a.m. in the Rose Garden at the White 
House.