Our National Bird

Our family will be celebrating Thanksgiving this coming Thursday in Atlanta - it's been our family tradition (see my post "Holiday Traditions" from a few years ago) to celebrate Thanksgiving with my wife's side of the family.  I am looking forward to eating some turkey!

There's a common myth that Founding Father Benjamin Franklin once argued to have the wild turkey be named our National Bird.  Unfortunately, it's exactly that - a myth.  The myth stems from a letter that Franklin wrote to his daughter, Sarah Bache in January 1784 (nearly two full years after the Great Seal of the United States was approved by the Continental Congress - remember, all of this happened in the days of the Articles of Confederation and before the U.S. Constitution), in which he was actually criticizing the eagle emblem of the Society of the Cincinnati, a fraternal, hereditary society founded in 1783 to commemorate the American Revolutionary War.  Membership in the society was restricted to current military officers who served in the Continental Army and their descendants.

Franklin wrote:

For my own part I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen as the Representative of our Country.  He is a Bird of bad moral Character. He does not get his Living honestly. You may have seen him perch'd on some dead Tree near the River, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the Labour of the Fishing Hawk; and when that diligent Bird has at length taken a Fish, and is bearing it to his Nest for the Support of his Mate and young Ones, the Bald Eagle pursues him and takes it from him. With all this Injustice, he is never in good Case but like those among Men who live by Sharping and Robbing he is generally poor and often very lousy. Besides he is a rank Coward: The little King Bird not bigger than a Sparrow attacks him boldly and drives him out of the District. 

He is therefore by no means a proper Emblem for the brave and honest Cincinnati of America who have driven all the King birds from our Country, tho' exactly fit for that Order of Knights which the French call Chevaliers d'Industrie. 

I am on this account not displeas'd that the Figure is not known as a Bald Eagle, but looks more like a Turkey. For in Truth the Turkey is in Comparison a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America. Eagles have been found in all Countries, but the Turkey was peculiar to ours, the first of the Species seen in Europe being brought to France by the Jesuits from Canada, and serv'd up at the Wedding Table of Charles the ninth. He is besides, tho' a little vain and silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on.

Here is the version of the Society of Cincinnati emblem that Franklin thought looked more like a turkey:

And here is an early version of the Great Seal that was designed by Charles Thomson, Secretary of the Continental Congress, which was eventually approved and adopted (and still used today):

Apparently, the American Bald Eagle wasn't even our National Bird until December 2024!  Until then, we didn't have a National Bird.  The bison is the official National Mammal, the Oak is the official National Tree, and the Rose is the official National Flower.  And now, as of 2024, the American Bald Eagle is our National Bird.

It sounds like Benjamin Franklin at least thought that the turkey was a better symbol than the bald eagle.  And, as it turns out, at least one speaker on leadership, Coach Murphy, thinks that turkeys represent a better style of leadership!  He suggests that "eagles" are leaders who are independent, aggressive, visionary, and high-achievers.  They are the proverbial "lone wolves" who often prefer to do things themselves.  They do not work well with others, but they can potentially achieve great things when leading others. Turkeys, in contrast, are leaders who are compliant, meticulous, grounded and calm.  Turkeys are the slow perfectionists who remain calm.

So, while you are enjoying your Thanksgiving turkey, think of leadership and be a Turkey!