Has any president refused or donated their presidential salary before?

1. Historical precursors: Hoover set an early example

Herbert Hoover, a wealthy businessman who became president during the Great Depression, is widely reported as the first president to donate his entire presidential salary to charity; contemporary and retrospective accounts list Hoover as a precedent for presidents who do not personally keep their pay ^[1].

2. Kennedy’s consistent practice of donating pay

John F. Kennedy not only donated his presidential salary but had a long-standing pattern of giving away his public pay while serving in Congress and as president: UPI reported Kennedy turned over his entire salary to charitable purposes and that his congressional-and-presidential donations approached roughly half a million dollars over his tenure in federal office ^{[2] [1]}.

3. Trump’s model is similar in headline but different in destination

Donald Trump fulfilled a campaign promise to forgo a full personal paycheck, accepting only a symbolic $1 and donating the statutory $400,000 annual salary in quarterly payments; unlike Hoover and Kennedy, Trump’s donations have gone directly to federal agencies (e.g., National Park Service, Department of Veterans Affairs, SBA) rather than exclusively to private charities, a distinction noted in several contemporary reports ^{[3] [1] [5]}.

4. A constitutional and institutional wrinkle: “accepting” versus “refusing” pay

Article II requires presidential compensation to be paid; presidents who “refuse” salary customarily still accept it formally and then donate the funds. Lawfare highlights that Trump is the first to give his salary specifically to government agencies — raising questions about separation of powers and appropriations because Congress, not the president, controls federal spending — whereas earlier presidents donated to private charities ^[4].

5. Variations in reporting and emphasis across sources

Contemporary summaries and fact-checking sites agree on the basic roster — Hoover, Kennedy and Trump — but emphasize different points: history and general overviews repeatedly cite Hoover and Kennedy as past examples ^{[1] [2]}, Snopes underscores that Trump is not the first to give away the salary ^[6], while Lawfare stresses the novel legal and institutional implications of donating to federal agencies ^[4]. Some secondary outlets repeat the trio and add detail about quarterly donations and recipient agencies ^{[3] [7] [5]}.

6. What reporting does not say or confirm

Available sources do not mention a complete, authoritative list of every president who ever donated any portion of pay beyond the well-documented examples above; they also do not provide a definitive legal ruling on whether donating a presidential salary to executive agencies violates the Appropriations Clause — Lawfare raises the constitutional concern but does not cite a judicial decision resolving it ^[4]. If you want a legally settled answer, current reporting does not offer one.

7. Why the differences matter: charity versus public coffers

The practical distinction between donating to private charities (Hoover, Kennedy) and donating to federal agencies (Trump) matters because private gifts do not alter congressional appropriations, whereas using a president’s pay to fund agencies can blur institutional accountability and raise oversight questions — a concern explicitly highlighted in Lawfare’s analysis ^[4].

8. Bottom line and context for future claims

Multiple reputable accounts confirm that presidents have donated their pay before: Herbert Hoover and John F. Kennedy donated full salaries to charity, and Donald Trump has regularly donated his statutory salary, uniquely directing funds to federal agencies ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}. Reporting differs on emphasis — historical precedent versus constitutional implications — so claims that any one president is “the only” or “the first” should be checked against both the donation target (charity vs. agency) and the specific factual claim being made ^{[6] [4]}.