Pardons

  • These counts include all grants of clemency (convictions pardoned, commuted, and rescinded).
  • Franklin D. Roosevelt issued the most grants of clemency with 3,687.
  • Herbert Hoover had the most grants of clemency for a one-term president with 1,385.
  • Neither William Henry Harrison nor James A. Garfield issued a pardon before their death in office.
  • George Washington issued the fewest grants of clemency for a president who served at least one full term - 16.
  • In addition the numbers in this table, Andrew Johnson also issued over 7,000 pardons for people who served in the Confederate Army and Jimmy Carter issued over 200,000 pardons for Vietnam War draft dodgers.
  • Richard M. Nixon is the only president to receive a pardon (from Gerald R. Ford).
  • * Indicates these are estimated numbers.
  • + Incumbent president's numbers last updated 20 Jan 2021.

 

Rank#PresidentPardons
132Franklin D. Roosevelt3,687
228Woodrow Wilson2,480
333Harry S. Truman2,044
444Barack Obama1,927
530Calvin Coolidge1,545
631Herbert Hoover1,385
718Ulysses S. Grant1,332
836Lyndon B. Johnson1,187
934Dwight D. Eisenhower1,157
1022 & 24Grover Cleveland1,107 *
1126Theodore Roosevelt981 *
1237Richard M. Nixon926
1325William McKinley918 *
1419Rutherford B. Hayes893
1529Warren G. Harding800
1627William H. Taft758
1717Andrew Johnson654
1823Benjamin Harrison613
1935John F. Kennedy575
2039Jimmy Carter566
2142Bill Clinton459
225James Monroe419
2338Gerald R. Ford409
2440Ronald Reagan406
257Andrew Jackson386
2616Abraham Lincoln343
2721Chester A. Arthur337
2811James K. Polk268
29
45Donald J. Trump238
3010John Tyler209
3143George W. Bush200
324James Madison196
336John Quincy Adams183
3413Millard Fillmore170
358Martin Van Buren168
3615James Buchanan150
3714Franklin Pierce142
383Thomas Jefferson119
3941George H. W. Bush77
4012Zachary Taylor38
412John Adams21
421George Washington16
439William Henry Harrison0
4320James A. Garfield0
4346Joe Biden0 +

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