scorecardresearch Skip to main content

Readers leave turkey carcasses at Dukakis home

Michael Dukakis said he had received 20 turkey carcasses after a Globe story detailed his habit of collecting them after Thanksgiving.

Former Governor Michael Dukakis helped his neighbors, Lilac and Isabella Nguyen, get the donated turkey carcasses into a freezer. Suzanne Kreiter/Globe staff/Globe Staff

It started on Thanksgiving morning, when someone from a nearby church showed up at Michael Dukakis’ house with a few turkey carcasses, and it continued through the day. On Friday morning at 5:30, someone rang the doorbell. Two carcasses were left on the doorstep.

Following a Globe story about his affection for turkey soup, his equally strong dismay that anyone would toss a turkey carcass — and his willingness to give out his home address for those who don’t want their turkey bones — at least a dozen carcasses have been dropped at Dukakis’ door.

”We are well supplied,” he said.

Advertisement



So well supplied, in fact, that a neighbor’s freezer is holding some of them.

But now, Dukakis is confronted with a dilemma: One carcass makes a lot of soup, and a dozen makes a ton. Even more than he and Kitty, and their dozen grandchildren, can consume over the course of the year. So he’s now considering trying to do something for his Brookline community.

By Friday, he was on CNN discussing his favorite soup — and telling host John Berman that, had he won the presidency in 1988, perhaps millions would have been exposed to his promotion of turkey soup. He said he may mention it to President Obama.

“A lot of people are throwing them out. And they’re missing a fabulous meal,” he said. “So maybe if I’d become president of the United States, we could have had literally thousands — maybe millions — of people out there making themselves turkey soup and sharing it with others.”

“Given the reaction to this,” he added, “maybe I’ll suggest it to the president. Who knows?”