{"id":2441201,"date":"2025-05-31T06:42:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-31T10:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-long-history-and-controversy-surrounding-presidential-autopen-use\/"},"modified":"2025-05-31T06:44:55","modified_gmt":"2025-05-31T10:44:55","slug":"the-long-history-and-controversy-surrounding-presidential-autopen-use","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-long-history-and-controversy-surrounding-presidential-autopen-use\/","title":{"rendered":"The long history and controversy surrounding presidential autopen use"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fthe-long-history-and-controversy-surrounding-presidential-autopen-use%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2441201&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article discusses the long history of autopen use by U.S. presidents and the recent controversy surrounding President Joe Biden&#8217;s use of the device. An autopen is a machine that replicates signatures and has been utilized by politicians for over two centuries, dating back to Thomas Jefferson, who was the first president to use it. The terms of use for autopens have always been somewhat contentious, frequently enough implying a lack of authenticity.<\/p>\n<p>Recent accusations from former President Donald Trump have fueled a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/report-justice-roberts-likely-to-order-fbi-investigation-into-scotus-leak\/\" title=\"REPORT: Justice Roberts \u2018Likely\u2019 To Order FBI Investigation Into SCOTUS Leak\">full-blown investigation<\/a> by a Republican-led House committee regarding biden&#8217;s actions, especially concerning pardons issued via autopen.Even though autopen use has had controversy surrounding it historically, including notable instances with Presidents John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama, the latest criticisms focus on the legitimacy of Biden&#8217;s pardons and <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >executive orders purportedly signed<\/a> by autopen without his full direct involvement.<\/p>\n<p>Biden&#8217;s aides are accused of possibly bypassing proper protocols by using the autopen for significant actions,raising questions about legality and authority. Critics suggest that while this issue may seem like a distraction,it highlights broader concerns about presidential actions and delegations. Some historians and academics view the controversy as an overblown issue, pointing out that signatures today often don&#8217;t even require a pen. the autopen debate has spurred significant discussion about authenticity, authority, and the evolving nature of signatures in the digital age.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">The long history and controversy of presidential autopen use<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2127707\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>Many people first heard the term &ldquo;autopen&rdquo; when President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Donald Trump\">Donald Trump<\/a> accused his predecessor of using it illicitly earlier this spring.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The &lsquo;Pardons&rsquo; that Sleepy <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/joe-biden\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Joe Biden\">Joe Biden<\/a> gave to the Unselect Committee of Political Thugs, and many others, are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT, because of the fact that they were done by Autopen,&rdquo; Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/@realDonaldTrump\/posts\/114175908922736427\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"wrote\">wrote<\/a> on March 17.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/finance-and-economy\/3426876\/fast-fashion-could-take-hit-trump-tariffs-hurting-influencers\/\">Fast fashion could take a hit from Trump&#8217;s tariffs, hurting influencers livelihood<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3427529\/watch-live-hegseth-delivers-speech-in-singapore\/\">WATCH LIVE: Hegseth delivers speech in Singapore<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3425297\/stephen-miller-eviscerated-ice-officials-deportation-numbers\/\">Stephen Miller &#8216;eviscerated&#8217; ICE officials in private meeting for low deportation numbers<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>That accusation has now set off a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/3414106\/james-comer-autopen-house-investigation-biden\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"full-blown investigation\">full-blown investigation<\/a> by the Republican-led House Oversight Committee as part of a wider set of questions about the Biden health cover-up that ensnares his family and his administration&rsquo;s top deputies.<\/p>\n<p>But former President Joe Biden was far from the first president to use an autopen. In fact, the device is even older than the 82-year-old.<\/p>\n<p>Autopen devices are used to generate signatures without the signer&rsquo;s input, and have been used for more than two centuries by politicians and other prominent figures with an in-demand John Hancock. As the name implies, the machine does not produce a stamp or copy of a signature, but creates one using an actual pen held by a machine. <\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full is-resized\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Damilic president Bob Olding anchors a sheet of paper as the Atlantic Plus, the Signascript tabletop model autopen, produces a signature at their Rockville, Maryland, office, June 13, 2011. (AP Photo\/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>The first president to use one was Thomas Jefferson, who began using a rudimentary autopen soon after the device&rsquo;s invention in 1803. This iteration, developed by British-American inventor John Isaac Hawkins, was known as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=JHRieWlyCYM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"polygraph\">polygraph<\/a> and made instant copies of a signature or even entire letters as they were dictated.<\/p>\n<p>Autopen has always been mildly controversial, implying an air of inauthenticity or even laziness on the part of its user. Most presidents who used them were not inclined to talk about it publicly, and the polygraph remained something of a state secret.<\/p>\n<p>A more modern autopen was in use by the days of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and he used it frequently. An authentic Eisenhower signature today can fetch over $400, while an autopenned one is a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reviewjournal.com\/life\/home-and-garden\/autopen-probably-used-for-identical-eisenhower-signatures\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"nice souvenir\">nice souvenir<\/a> with little monetary value.<\/p>\n<p>The first true presidential autopen scandal belonged to President John F. Kennedy, the subject of an entire book dedicated to the matter. In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Robot-That-Helped-Make-President\/dp\/B000S3RQ56\/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.cEpgW6jqlT1WcxSRORtE3zkdoXC7YheEqupTI7A3Ia1NjrFMMoppH8z1wSKwWufLh3jEFKENdfODQ7M6OEwLtM5NufUFAG6Qfsa76VSS-a9vLB5QiL7vUimF8ndMdK2y2I8Prvt2gotSX3m0FgKlOQ.qZW-QuIWhlQUiVyP4EgDXvqR-0GXVlgt3bi3J0v1FYs&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=The+Robot+That+Helped+to+Make+a+President&amp;qid=1748614531&amp;sr=8-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"The Robot That Helped to Make a President\"><em>The Robot That Helped to Make a President<\/em><\/a>, author Charles Hamilton surmised that Kennedy&rsquo;s true signature was scarce.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Picture a huge, faceless robot which grips a fountain pen in claws of steel,&rdquo; Hamilton wrote. &ldquo;At the push of a pedal, its hidden parts awake and its metal arm moves firmly and quickly over a sheet of paper to perform the very human function of scrawling a name. Tirelessly the robot works, signing thousands of letters, papers, and photographs.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Kennedy&rsquo;s supercharged autopen use, the author believes, helped fuel his narrow victory over then-Vice President Richard Nixon in 1960, hence the book&rsquo;s name.<\/p>\n<p>However, the Kennedy saga ironically destigmatized the autopen, and Kennedy&rsquo;s successor, President Lyndon B. Johnson, became the first president to allow the device to be photographed. From then on, the device became an open secret.<\/p>\n<p>By the 1970s, Nixon, now president, was so dependent on an autopen that it was one of the last things to go before the Watergate scandal forced him out of office.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;In August of 1974, on the verge of Nixon&rsquo;s resignation, White House staffers figured the end was coming,&rdquo; presidential historian Craig Shirley said. &ldquo;But they knew it was inevitable when he shut off the autopen.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"youtube-embed\" data-video_id=\"-oY9Z_m0aF0\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title='Model Atlantic Signature Machine from The Autopen Company Signs \"John Hancock\"' width=\"696\" height=\"522\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-oY9Z_m0aF0?feature=oembed&amp;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Historically, autopen had strict limits on its use. It was allowed for form letters or other communications, but never for high-profile functions such as signing legislation. This meant that bills were often flown out to the president if he was away and then carried back by a staffer to Washington.<\/p>\n<p>In 2005, former President George W. Bush instructed his Department of Justice to check out what was legally required to sign a bill. The dispensation he received said that he could use the autopen to sign legislation if desired. But Bush backed down and, in one instance, rushed from Texas to Washington to sign in person a hot-button bill regarding medical treatment for Terri Schiavo, a Florida woman who was severely brain-damaged.<\/p>\n<p>The DOJ&rsquo;s advice sat dormant for another six years.<\/p>\n<p>Prior to 2025, the closest thing to a true autopen scandal occurred in 2011. Former President Barack Obama was aware of the 2005 dispensation and decided to use it midway through his first term.<\/p>\n<p>Obama visited France for the 2011 G8 summit and, while there, needed to sign a bill extending the Patriot Act. Rather than fly back or have the bill flow to him, he had the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/obama-autopens-patriot-act-extension-into-law\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"autopen do it\">autopen do it<\/a> from 4,000 miles away. Obama used it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/obama-uses-autopen-again-to-sign-bill-into-law\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"again\">again<\/a> from Indonesia later that same year and from Hawaii in 2013.<\/p>\n<p>That set off a mini-controversy, with critics <a href=\"https:\/\/slate.com\/news-and-politics\/2011\/08\/the-constitutional-quibble-with-the-autopen-it-s-not-what-you-think-it-is.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"pointing\">pointing<\/a> to the English 1677 Statute of Frauds to argue Obama could use an autopen to sign legislation only if he was in the same room as the device.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Autopengate establishes a dangerous precedent, one that every thinking lawyer in Washington politics seemed to have overlooked,&rdquo; lawyer Terry Turnipseed <a href=\"https:\/\/slate.com\/news-and-politics\/2011\/08\/the-constitutional-quibble-with-the-autopen-it-s-not-what-you-think-it-is.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"wrote\">wrote<\/a> for <em>Slate<\/em>. &ldquo;Nobody should be signing bills for the president, not even when the president orders them to do so.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Can you imagine what mischief one could get into with the president&rsquo;s autopen at one&rsquo;s beck and call?&rdquo; he added. <\/p>\n<p>Republicans <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/htdocs\/pdf\/AutopenLetter061711a.pdf?tag=contentMain;contentBody\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"complained\">complained then<\/a>, but a court challenge to the practice never materialized.<\/p>\n<p>Trump has acknowledged using the autopen himself, but he says Biden&rsquo;s aides may have used it without the former president&rsquo;s full knowledge to arrange pardons for themselves and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-is-off-to-a-fast-start-with-executive-orders-but-does-he-know-whats-in-them-and-can-he-explain-how-any-help-the-average-american\/\" title=\"Biden Is Off to a Fast Start with Executive Orders But Does He know What\u2019s In Them and Can He Explain How Any Help the Average American?\">sign executive orders<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;He autopenned almost everything,&rdquo; Trump said. &ldquo;Do you think he even knew that they were using an autopen?&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Those leading the charge say that autopen was not used to sign legislation, which Biden often did himself with cameras rolling, but rather executive actions and the last-minute pardons handed out to former White House COVID-19 adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci, former Wyoming GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, and several members of the House Jan. 6 committee.<\/p>\n<p>Biden also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/weiss-slams-biden-after-hunter-escapes-most-serious-charges\/\" title=\"Weiss Slams Biden After Hunter Escapes Most Serious Charges\">pardoned family members<\/a>, including Hunter Biden, James Biden, Sara Jones Biden, Valerie Biden Owens, John T. Owens, and Francis W. Biden. According to Oversight Project president Mike Howell, all of those are now in question.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I think, ultimately, these [Biden aides] are involved in criminal activity,&rdquo; Howell said in an interview with the <em>Washington Examiner. <\/em>&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t think, one, he was allowed to delegate those decisions, and two, we did not think he had the capacity to delegate them even if he was allowed to.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The Oversight Project&rsquo;s initial <a href=\"https:\/\/itsyourgov.org\/investigation\/the-autopen-presidency-part-ii-executive-orders\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"investigation\">investigation<\/a> helped bring Trump&rsquo;s attention to the issue, which is now probably the most high-profile controversy in the autopen&rsquo;s 222-year history.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-transform:uppercase\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/house\/3424755\/deadline-looms-ex-biden-aides-comply-gop-autopen-investigation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Deadline looms for ex-Biden aides to comply with GOP autopen investigation\">Deadline looms for ex-Biden aides to comply with GOP autopen investigation<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Of course, not everyone thinks Biden&rsquo;s use of an autopen should be controversial. Many see it as a distraction at best and a form of intimidation at worst, especially considering that so many signatures in today&rsquo;s world don&rsquo;t use a pen at all.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know the history of it, but I do think it&rsquo;s a bogus, ginned-up issue,&rdquo; Rutgers University history, media studies, and journalism professor David Greenberg said. &ldquo;These days, I sign all kinds of documents with an e-signature or even by putting my name in a cursive font in a regular Microsoft Word document. Autopen has been used in lots of ways without its validity ever being impugned.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_2127707\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"2127707\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The history and debate surrounding presidential autopen use<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2635,"featured_media":2441202,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/President-Autopen-history.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[50410,4919,5894,56262],"class_list":["post-2441201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner","tag-controversy-2","tag-history","tag-politics","tag-presidential-autopen"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/President-Autopen-history.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2441201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2635"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2441201"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2441201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2441205,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2441201\/revisions\/2441205"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2441202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2441201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2441201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2441201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}