Every year the president frees one lucky turkey while millions of itsbrethren are consigned to the dinner table. Though turkey farmers havebeen sending presidents the choicest birds since the 1800s, PresidentJohn F. Kennedy was the first one on record to spare a turkey. In 1963,he sent back a turkey mailed by the National Turkey Federation, saying,We'll just let this one grow. President Richard Nixon sent turkeys to aWashington, D.C., petting farm but didn't officially pardon them,according to the White House Blog. President George H.W. Bush gavethe first official pardon to a turkey in 1989. The survivor lived out its daysat a Virginia petting zoo called Frying Pan Park.