Which presidents besides Trump and Biden have used autopens and for what types of documents?
Executive summary
Autopens—and their 19th‑century predecessor, the polygraph—have been used by U.S. presidents for routine and high‑volume signing for well over a century, including by Thomas Jefferson, Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Gerald Ford and others, to sign everything from correspondence and photographs to bills and overseas legislation when the president was absent [1] [2] [3]. Modern legal guidance from the Justice Department and reporting say autopens are treated as a valid means to affix a presidential signature for many official documents, though their use has periodically sparked political and constitutional disputes [2] [4] [5].
1. Early adopters and the polygraph: Jefferson to Truman
The technological story begins with Thomas Jefferson’s interest in a copying device called a polygraph—Jefferson purchased versions for the White House and Monticello to reproduce handwriting—establishing a long presidential comfort with mechanical duplication of signatures [1]. Histories and reporting trace routine autopen or autopen‑like use forward to Harry S. Truman, who reportedly used mechanized signing for checks and mail, marking Truman as among the first modern presidents to rely on such devices [2] [3].
2. The 1960s boom: Kennedy, Johnson and public disclosure
The autopen moved into the mainstream presidential toolkit in the 1960s; John F. Kennedy is widely reported to have used the device extensively for routine items, and Lyndon B. Johnson famously allowed photographs of his autopen to be published—Johnson’s use helped normalize the practice for high‑volume correspondence and photographs [1] [6]. Collectors and historians note that this era transformed authenticity concerns for presidential signatures because machine‑made signatures are visually indistinguishable from hand signatures [6] [1].
3. Ford, Nixon and the routine work of a presidency
Gerald Ford acknowledged autopen use in the White House for reproducing signatures on letters and photographs, and Richard Nixon also relied heavily on autopen patterns while delegating routine signings to aides in many instances, underscoring how successive administrations treated the device as a practical office tool [7] [6]. Reporting indicates presidents used autopens mainly for high‑volume, ceremonial, and constituent correspondence rather than to avoid personal responsibility for major decisions [7] [6].
4. Autopens for legislation and the DOJ view: Bush era guidance
The question of whether an autopen can validly sign legislation and other force‑of‑law documents has been litigated in public debate and addressed by executive branch lawyers; a 2005 Justice Department opinion found that a president may authorize the autopen or a subordinate to affix his signature to a bill, treating the device as a lawful means of executing presidential approvals when appropriately authorized [2] [4]. Media reporting and legal summaries repeat that presidents from George W. Bush onward relied on this guidance in practice [4] [3].
5. Recent presidents: Obama, Trump and the modern flashpoints
Barack Obama is reported to have used autopen technology to sign legislation while overseas, including large bills such as the Patriot Act‑era measures and appropriations when the physical presence requirement was raised as an issue [4]. Donald Trump has acknowledged using autopens for lesser documents and has used the topic politically to criticize successors, but reporting also shows presidents of both parties have historically used autopens for routine and sometimes consequential documents [4] [7].
6. Controversy, politics and the limits of the record
Conservative groups such as the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project have recently scrutinized Joe Biden’s use of autopens—alleging autopen signatures on pardons and many documents—and political opponents have seized on those findings to question validity and awareness, while legal scholars and prior DOJ guidance have broadly treated autopen use as constitutionally and legally permissible for many document types [7] [8] [5]. The public record in the supplied reporting documents widespread historical use by named presidents but does not provide an exhaustive, document‑by‑document accounting of every president’s autopen use or the internal approvals that preceded each signature; therefore, claims about specific modern pardons or the percentage of documents signed by autopen require source‑by‑source verification beyond these summaries [7] [5].