In this photograph President Donald Trump interacts with the pardoned turkey, Peas in the Rose Garden of the White House on November 20, 2018. Standing behind him is First Lady Melania Trump. Presidents and their families have received turkeys for the holidays as far back as the 1870s. However, the origin of the turkey pardon is said to have started with President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, after he offered clemency to a turkey purchased for Christmas dinner at his son's request. The pardoning of a Thanksgiving turkey became a formalized tradition during the Ronald Reagan administration.