What started the tradition of "pardoning" thanksgiving turkeys?

The news report I was just listening to said the tradition was started by Harry Truman, but this is a quote from Bush's speech in 2001 "This White House tradition dates back to Abraham Lincoln. Probably what you don't know is that Abraham Lincoln had a son named Tad who kept a turkey as a pet. I thought about trying to keep the turkey as a pet, but I don't think the two dogs and the cat would like it".

Here's what snope.com has to say about it: The earliest provable instance of the word pardon being used was by newspapers in 1963 reporting on President Kennedy's announcement that he did not eat the turkey in question. The next instance was President Ronald Reagan in 1987. It was apparently President Bush who turned it into an annual event, in 1989, complete with the anecdotal story of President Lincoln.

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I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.