Which presidents since Nixon released full medical exams or health records, and how did they present cognitive results?
Executive summary
Modern presidents have generally followed Richard Nixon’s practice of publicizing at least summaries of annual medical exams rather than releasing full medical files, a custom described as “routine” by news reporting [1][2]. The clearest recent example of a president publicly releasing detailed cognitive results is Donald Trump, whose White House physician reported a 30/30 Montreal Cognitive Assessment score and issued a favorable memo; that disclosure has generated both praise from supporters and skepticism from outside medical experts about what was actually tested and reported [3][4].
1. Nixon set a baseline: summaries became routine, not wholesale file dumps
The tradition of publishing presidential medical information in some form dates to Richard Nixon, who was the first modern president to publicize annual medical exams, after which releasing at least a summary of a president’s physical became customary rather than legally mandated [2][1].
2. “Full medical exams” is a misleading standard — presidents typically issue summaries
Reporting stresses that presidents are not required by law to submit to or publicly disclose full physical or cognitive records; what became customary under Nixon was publicizing annual physical summaries, not full medical charts or raw data, and legal scholars warn mandatory disclosure of full records would collide with constitutional and privacy limits [1][2].
3. Donald Trump: the most recent and detailed cognitive disclosure
Donald Trump’s White House in 2025 publicly released a physician’s memo saying he “exhibits excellent cognitive and physical health,” including a Montreal Cognitive Assessment score reported as 30 out of 30, language the White House echoed as “aced” on social posts [3][5]. The administration framed the disclosure as unusually transparent and used the cognitive score to argue fitness for office, with the president and his spokesperson urging cognitive testing for all candidates [5][6].
4. What Trump released — and the ensuing questions about completeness and context
While the White House released a clear cognitive score and a physician’s conclusion of fitness, independent reporting and medical experts flagged important gaps: a New York Times analysis said the physician’s memo offered little clarity about which imaging tests were performed or why, and experts noted imaging is not typically part of routine exams without symptoms, raising questions about what “comprehensive” meant in practice [4]. Critics argue a single screening score or a short memo does not substitute for full records or context about prior history, medications, or raw test data [4][7].
5. Legal and political constraints shape how cognitive results are presented
Calls for mandatory cognitive testing or compulsory release are common in political debate, but reporting cites legal precedent indicating such requirements would be constitutionally fraught and effectively toothless; proponents frame testing as transparency, while legal analysts warn about privacy and constitutional limits that block forcing full disclosures [1]. That tension produces a pattern where administrations choose how much to publish, often balancing political messaging against medical privacy and legal risk [1][8].
6. Where reporting is thin — and what remains unresolved in the public record
Public sources confirm Nixon’s role in normalizing summaries and document Trump’s 30/30 cognitive score and favorable physician memo, but they also make clear that many presidents release only summaries and that full medical files are rarely — if ever — made public; available reporting does not provide a comprehensive list of which presidents disclosed full raw medical records because the practice has been to issue summaries, and the sources provided do not supply additional examples beyond the general custom or detailed contemporary debates [1][2][3].