Presidential Vetoes
The first Presidential veto was issued by the first President, George Washington, on April 5, 1792. It was for an act to change apportionment when considering the number of members of the House of Representatives and Washington considered it unconstitutional after discussion of the bill with members of his cabinet. Washington returned the bill to Congress with his view of its failings, and rather than attempt to override the President’s veto, the House discarded the original bill and wrote another.
John Adams did not attempt to veto any bills which were presented during his Presidency, making him the first President not to attempt to override any legislation which appeared before him. Neither did his successor, Thomas Jefferson. It was Jefferson’s successor, James Madison who applied the first pocket veto, although it wasn’t given that name for the President’s action, or rather inaction until Andrew Jackson resorted to the tactic much later.
The first President to have a veto overturned by Congress was John Tyler. The bill denied the President the authority to order Revenue Marine cutters (today’s Coast Guard cutters) without first obtaining funding authorization from Congress. Tyler vetoed the bill to protect existing contracts and the power of his office. Congress overturned the veto by large margins in both the House and the Senate, after stopping the clock in the House chamber before proceeding to the vote, as by law the Congress ended at midnight.
There were 635 vetoes during the administration of Franklin Roosevelt, not surprisingly the most of any President since he served through three full terms and a few weeks of a fourth. Only nine of his vetoes were overridden by Congress, among them the Revenue Act of 1943. It marked the first time in American history in Congress enacted a Revenue Act without the approval of the White House. FDR was also the first President to read a veto message personally before a joint session of Congress, on May 22, 1935, when he disagreed with early payments of bonuses to the veterans of the First World War.
In total, up to the end of the Obama administration, the Presidents of the United States have issued 2,572 vetoes, with 1067 of them being pocket vetoes. Congress has successfully overridden 110. The vast majority of Presidential vetoes have led to legislation being rewritten to address the issues debated by the President or simply being set aside. As with all Presidential firsts, succeeding Presidents have put their own mark on the precedent set by those who have served in the office before them.
