A History of Presidential Pardons

For more than 200 years, presidents have often used their pardon powers aggressively, and sometimes in controversial ways. Occasionally, as with Donald Trump, their actions and rhetoric have raised questions among legal scholars and politicians about whether they were straying from what the founders intended.

Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution, ratified in 1789, authorizes the president to grant pardons and other forms of clemency involving "offenses against the United States." The goal is to ensure more fairness in the criminal justice system and avoid abuses by prosecutors. The pardon power also was designed to "restore the tranquility of the commonwealth" and promote conciliation, wrote Alexander Hamilton, one of the nation's founders.

Trump is stirring controversy not only because of the five pardons and two commutations he has issued so far but because of what he says he might do in the future. He argues that he has the "absolute right" to pardon himself. His supporters say this could be appropriate if special counsel Robert Mueller brings unfair charges against the president in the federal investigation of possible wrongdoing in the 2016 presidential campaign. Trump critics say pardoning himself would be an abuse of power.

The history of presidential pardons, famous and infamous, is lengthy. Here are some of the most prominent:

George Washington

The nation's first president set many precedents, including the use of pardons as a gesture of social and political reconciliation. Perhaps the most historic was his granting clemency to John Mitchell and Philip Weigel for their participation in the Whiskey Rebellion, an anti-tax movement, for which they had been convicted of treason. Washington issued a total of 16 pardons, commutations and rescissions of convictions during his eight-year presidency from 1789-1797.

Gerald Ford

Gerald Ford adopted Washington's reconciliation rationale for what has probably been the most important and criticized presidential pardon in U.S. history – his granting in 1974 of a "full, free and absolute pardon" to his predecessor Richard Nixon "for all offenses against the United States." Ford was referring to the Watergate scandal, which caused Nixon to resign as the House moved closer to impeaching him. It was the first and only time that a president has received a pardon, and it caused a huge firestorm because Nixon was so unpopular.

Some critics suggested that Ford secretly promised to pardon Nixon in exchange for Nixon resigning and allowing Ford, then his vice president, to succeed to the top job. This was never proven. Ford argued that the pardon was necessary to move beyond the rancor of the Watergate scandal. But the pardon was a factor in Ford's loss in the 1976 presidential election. Ford also offered conditional amnesty to more than 50,000 draft resisters as a way to move beyond the polarization caused by the Vietnam War.

Andrew Johnson

Andrew Johnson, on Christmas Day 1868, granted full pardons and amnesty to soldiers who had fought for the Confederacy against the Union in the Civil War. Critics say President Johnson was being too lenient with traitors, but Johnson argued that it was time for a massive gesture of reconciliation.

Jimmy Carter

The one-term president who defeated Ford in '76 pardoned 200,000 draft resisters from the Vietnam War in still another bid for reconciliation. In 1979, Carter also commuted the sentence of heiress Patty Hearst for helping to rob a bank after she was kidnapped and held by the Symbionese Liberation Army, a leftist radical group.

Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton, who served from 1993-2001, drew much criticism for two of his pardons in particular – one for his brother Roger Clinton after Roger Clinton served a year in prison for a drug conviction, and one for Clinton supporter and financier Marc Rich, who was indicted by a U.S. attorney for tax evasion and illegal trading with Iran.

Clinton issued 396 pardons, 61 commutations and two other types of clemency – a total of 459, according to the Pew Research Center and other sources. Clinton also pardoned Patty Hearst on his last day in office in 2001, following up on Carter's commutation.

George H.W. Bush

George H.W. Bush, who served from 1989-93, was condemned for pardoning, commuting the sentences and rescinding the convictions of six people convicted in the Iran-Contra arms-for-hostages scandal during the Ronald Reagan presidency, when Bush had been vice president. Among those receiving clemency from Bush were former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger and former White House national security adviser Robert McFarlane.

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan, 1981-89, pardoned New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner after the baseball executive pleaded guilty to illegally contributing to Nixon's campaign.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin D. Roosevelt issued far more pardons and commutations than any other president, and he also served as president longer than anyone else, from 1933-1945. FDR issued 2,819 pardons, 488 commutations, and 489 other types of executive clemency for a total of 3,796 acts of legal mercy, according to the Pew Research Center. Many of these acts of clemency involved people convicted of violating Prohibition, a law designed to make it illegal to drink and sell alcoholic beverages.

Harry Truman

FDR's successor served from 1945-53 and was very active in the forgiveness department, issuing 1,913 pardons, 118 commutations and 13 other forms of clemency for a total of 2,044. Among them, Truman granted pardons to 1,523 people convicted of violating the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, which implemented the military draft prior to U.S. entry into World War II. Most of those pardoned by Truman for draft violations were conscientious objectors for religious reasons.

Barack Obama

Barack Obama issued 212 pardons and 1,715 commutations for a total of 1,927 acts of clemency during his eight years in office from 2009-2017, according to the Pew Research Center. These are relatively high totals. Among them was his commutation of a 35-year prison sentence given to former U.S. Army soldier Chelsea Manning for giving sensitive information to WikiLeaks.

Donald Trump

Donald Trump has granted five pardons and two commutation so far. One was his show of legal mercy to conservative commentator Dinesh D'Souza after D'Souza was convicted of campaign finance violations. This pardon, announced May 31, was criticized as a political reward for a supporter who is an ideological celebrity.

Trump also pardoned former local sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona, a Trump backer, for contempt of court based on Arpaio's ignoring legal orders designed to limit his pursuit of immigrants in the country illegally. Less criticized has been Trump's pardon of former heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson, an African-American, for a race-based 1913 conviction focusing on Johnson's travel across state lines with a white woman.

Trump's pattern is that he appears to be pardoning supporters, celebrities or individuals whose cases caught his attention and captured his fancy because the president concluded they were wronged.