In the United States, the term "veto" is used to describe an action by which the president prevents an act passed by Congress from becoming law. This article provides a summary and details of the bills vetoed by presidents.

Veto procedure

Although the term "veto" does not appear in the United States Constitution, Article I requires each bill and joint resolution (except joint resolutions proposing a constitutional amendment) approved by the Congress to be presented to the president for his approval. Once the bill is presented to the president, there are several scenarios which may play out: Although each case is different, one general rule can be acknowledged: presidents use their prerogative to veto legislation when such legislation does not represent their viewpoint or agenda. Occasionally, a president either publicly or privately threatens Congress with a veto to influence the content or passage of legislation. There is no record of what constitutes a "veto threat" or how many have been made over the years, but it has become a staple of presidential politics and a sometimes effective way of shaping policy. A president may also warn Congress of a veto of a particular bill so as to persuade Congress not to waste time passing particular legislation or including certain provisions in a bill when the president is prepared to veto it.

Summary

Presidents with most or fewest vetoes

Full veto record

The following is an incomplete list of the dates and bills of each veto for each president:

George Washington

Two regular vetoes.

John Adams

No vetoes.

Thomas Jefferson

No vetoes.

James Madison

Seven vetoes (five regular vetoes and two pocket vetoes).

James Monroe

One regular veto.

John Quincy Adams

No vetoes.

Andrew Jackson

Twelve vetoes (five regular vetoes and seven pocket vetoes).

Martin Van Buren

One pocket veto.

William Henry Harrison

No vetoes.

John Tyler

Ten vetoes (six regular vetoes and four pocket vetoes). One was overridden.

James K. Polk

Three vetoes (two regular vetoes and one pocket veto).

Zachary Taylor

No vetoes.

Millard Fillmore

No vetoes.

Franklin Pierce

Nine regular vetoes. Five were overridden.

James Buchanan

Seven vetoes (four regular vetoes and three pocket vetoes):

Abraham Lincoln

Seven vetoes (two regular vetoes and five pocket vetoes):

Andrew Johnson

29 vetoes (21 regular vetoes and eight pocket vetoes). 15 were overridden.

Ulysses S. Grant

93 vetoes (45 regular vetoes and 48 pocket vetoes). Four were overridden. H.R. 4476, an act to provide for the appointment of shorthand reporters in and for the United States Courts in California, was not presented to the President for his signature. It therefore expired at the adjournment sine die of the 44th Congress on March 3, 1877, but is not counted in the tables above.

Rutherford B. Hayes

13 vetoes (twelve regular vetoes and one pocket veto). One was overridden.

James Garfield

No vetoes.

Chester Arthur

Twelve vetoes (four regular vetoes and eight pocket vetoes. One was overridden.

Grover Cleveland

584 vetoes (346 regular vetoes and 238 pocket vetoes). Seven were overridden. Strongly opposed to what he perceived as "pork barrel" spending, and favoring limited government, he vetoed more than 200 private bills granting pensions to individual Civil War veterans. Reacting to these vetoes, Congress passed a bill that would have granted a pension to any disabled veteran. He vetoed this bill as well. This is widely perceived to have been a factor in the defeat of his 1888 bid for re-election. In addition to these, he also vetoed a bill that would have distributed seed grain to drought-stricken farmers in the American West, and bills increasing the monetary supply. He also refused to sign, but did not veto, the Wilson–Gorman Tariff Act.

Benjamin Harrison

44 vetoes (19 regular vetoes and 25 pocket vetoes). One was overridden.

William McKinley

42 vetoes (six regular vetoes and 36 pocket vetoes).

Theodore Roosevelt

82 vetoes (42 regular vetoes and 40 pocket vetoes). One was overridden.

William Taft

Woodrow Wilson

Thirty-three regular vetoes, eleven pocket vetoes. Six were overridden. Wilson wrote: "The President is no greater than his prerogative of veto makes him; he is, in other words, powerful rather as a branch of the legislature than as the titular head of the Executive." Some of Wilson's vetoes include:

Warren Harding

Harding vetoed the Soldiers' Adjusted Compensation Act (soldiers' bonus) on September 19, 1922, arguing the country could not afford the cost during the postwar recession. Congress failed, by four votes, to override his veto.

Calvin Coolidge

Coolidge vetoed the McNary–Haugen Farm Relief Bill because he thought its cost was too high.

Herbert Hoover

Franklin D. Roosevelt

635 vetoes. Franklin D. Roosevelt vetoed more bills than any other president in history. This is partly because of the many new ideas for solutions to the problems caused by the Great Depression and World War II, and partly because he served three full terms (Roosevelt died roughly three months into his fourth term). Grover Cleveland vetoed more bills per term.

Harry S. Truman

180 regular vetoes, 70 pocket vetoes. Congress overrode 12 of Truman's vetoes. One of the most notable was the Taft–Hartley Act, which weakened labor unions. Another was the McCarran Internal Security Act, which established the Subversive Activities Control Board to investigate suspected communist and/or fascist sympathizers.

Dwight Eisenhower

President Eisenhower had 181 vetoes, 73 of them regular legislative vetoes and 108 pocket vetoes. Two of these vetoes were overridden, the Postal and Federal Employees' Salary Increase Acts of 1960 and the Public works appropriations for 1960 fiscal year.

John F. Kennedy

Lyndon B. Johnson

Sixteen regular vetoes, fourteen pocket vetoes. None were overridden. Like President Kennedy before him, President Johnson made no public veto threats. His is the most recent example of an override-free administration.

Richard Nixon

Twenty-six regular vetoes, seventeen pocket vetoes. Seven were overridden. There were no vetoes in the first session of the Ninety-first Congress.

Gerald Ford

Forty eight regular vetoes, eighteen pocket vetoes. Twelve were overridden. This bill would have provided for payment, "as a gratuity," of $45,482 to Mr. Burt and for similar payments of $36,750 each to the widow and son of Douglas E. Kennedy for injuries and other damages Mr. Burt and Mr. Kennedy sustained as a result of gunshot wounds inflicted by U.S. military personnel in the Dominican Republic in 1965.

Jimmy Carter

Congress overrode two of Carter's vetoes. Not since 1952 had a Congress controlled by the president's own party overridden a veto. On June 5, 1980, Carter vetoed a bill that repealed a crude oil import fee of $4.62 per barrel. The same day, the House voted 335–34 to override Carter's veto. The Senate followed suit the next day by 68 votes to 10. Carter's own party (the Democrats) had a 59-seat majority (276–157) in the House, and an eight-seat majority (58–41) in the Senate. In August 1980, Congress overrode his veto of a veterans' health care bill, by votes of 401–5 in the House, and 85–0 in the Senate.

Ronald Reagan

Twelve normal vetoes, six pocket vetoes. Four were overridden.

George H. W. Bush

Twenty-nine vetoes, fifteen pocket vetoes. One was overridden.

Bill Clinton

Thirty-six vetoes, one pocket veto. Two were overridden.

George W. Bush

Twelve vetoes, including one veto whose status is disputed (Bush claimed it was a pocket veto; the Senate considers it to have been a regular veto):

Barack Obama

President Obama issued twelve vetoes, of which the status of five is disputed (Obama considered them pocket vetoes, but since he returned the parchments to Congress, the Senate considers them regular vetoes). They are:

Donald Trump

Joe Biden