Which presidents besides Trump have donated all or part of their official salary and how were those donations handled?
Executive summary
Several presidents before Donald Trump chose not to personally keep their full official pay: most reliably documented are John F. Kennedy and Herbert Hoover, who donated their presidential salaries to private charities or other causes, while earlier figures such as George Washington initially refused pay (a distinct act from “donating” salary) and modern presidents have given portions of their overall incomes to charity though not always ascribable solely to salary [1] [2] [3] [4].
1. John F. Kennedy — donated his entire salary to private charities
Documentation contemporary to Kennedy’s presidency shows that he gave “every penny” of his presidential salary to charity, with his roughly $94,600 for the partial year of 1961 directed to six charities, and reporters at the time calculating that his cumulative public‑service pay given away across congressional and presidential posts approached a half‑million dollars (UPI archive reporting on disclosures at the time) [1]. Later summaries and fact collections reiterate that Kennedy routinely redirected his governmental paychecks to philanthropic causes rather than pocketing them [2] [5].
2. Herbert Hoover — independently wealthy, divided salary among causes (and occasionally staff)
Herbert Hoover, another president of independent means, is widely reported to have donated his presidential pay; secondary summaries and online retrospectives state that Hoover “divided his salary between various charities” and sometimes used portions to reward staff (summaries and compilations citing historical reporting) [6] [7]. The record portrayed in these sources frames Hoover’s action as an expression of private philanthropy rather than a redistribution through government channels [6] [7].
3. George Washington and the nuance between refusing pay and donating it
Early in the republic George Washington’s approach to compensation differed: he initially sought to decline a salary as commander in chief (an act meant to set a precedent about who could serve), but later accepted pay so the office would not be limited to the independently wealthy—this is distinct from the pattern of privately redirecting pay to charity while in office (historical treatments summarized in secondary sources) [3]. The available sources do not present Washington as “donating” salary in the modern sense; instead, they show a constitutional and symbolic debate about compensation [3].
4. Modern presidents — charitable giving versus salary donation: Obama and others
Contemporary coverage stresses that many post‑war presidents and first families made sizable charitable gifts, but that these gifts are not always equivalent to donating the official presidential salary itself; for example, reporting notes Barack Obama gave roughly $1.1 million of the $3.2 million he received over eight years to charitable causes, a reflection of broader philanthropy rather than a strict “I don’t take my salary” policy [4]. Compilation pieces and philanthropy trackers profile routine charitable giving by presidents (Bush, Clinton, Gore, Obama, etc.) but do not always specify that those dollars originated from the statutory presidential paycheck [8] [4].
5. How donations were handled — charities vs. government agencies, and the legal/ethical lines
Historical practice before Trump’s term shows presidents who declined personal gain funneled funds to private charities or staff support, a private philanthropic act reported to the public and tracked in tax/press disclosures (JFK, Hoover examples) [1] [6]. By contrast, Donald Trump’s approach—publicly donating quarterly paychecks to federal agencies—was characterized by observers as novel and legally distinct because it routes executive pay back into government budgets rather than to private charities, raising constitutional and appropriations questions discussed by legal observers (Lawfare) [9]. That contrast is central to debates over whether a president’s routing of pay to government entities blurs separation of powers or personalization of appropriations, whereas prior presidents’ giving tended to be straightforward private philanthropy [9].
6. Limits of the record and contested claims
Fact‑checking outlets and compilations warn that internet claims about who did or did not give presidential salaries can be misleading; Snopes and other retrospectives note misstatements that misattribute total philanthropic giving to the salary specifically, and some online lists conflate overall charitable donations with formal salary forfeiture [5] [8]. Some summaries and later web pages repeat assertions (e.g., that Washington “didn’t take a salary”) without distinguishing symbolic refusal from documented charitable redirection, so available reporting needs careful parsing [3] [6].