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List of people pardoned or granted clemency by the president of the United States

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List of people pardoned or granted clemency by the president of the United States
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This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

This is a partial list of people pardoned or granted clemency by the president of the United States. The plenary power to grant a pardon or a reprieve is granted to the president by Article II, Section 2, Clause 1 of the Constitution; the only limits mentioned in the Constitution are that pardons are limited to federal offenses, and that they cannot affect an impeachment process: "The president shall ... have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment".[1]

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President Gerald Ford announcing his decision to pardon former president Richard Nixon, September 8, 1974, in an Oval Office address to the nation

Though pardons have been challenged in the courts, and the power to grant them challenged by Congress, the courts have consistently declined to put limits on the president's discretion. The president can issue a full pardon, reversing a criminal conviction (along with its legal effects) as if it never happened. A pardon can also be offered for a period of time to cover any crimes that may have taken place or stop any charges from ever being filed during that period. A pardon can be issued from the time an offense is committed, and can even be issued after the full sentence has been served. The president can issue a reprieve, commuting a criminal sentence, lessening its severity, its duration, or both while leaving a record of the conviction in place. Additionally, the president can make a pardon conditional, or vacate a conviction while leaving parts of the sentence in place, like the payment of fines or restitution.[1][2] After George W. Bush attempted to rescind his pardon of Isaac Robert Toussie, the Department of Justice concluded that the pardon was not yet effective, since it had never been officially delivered to Toussie. Under this legal interpretation, posthumous presidential pardons appear to be merely ceremonial and have no effect, since they were never delivered to the recipient.

Pardons granted by presidents from George Washington until Grover Cleveland's first term (1885–89) were handwritten by the president; thereafter, pardons were prepared for the president by administrative staff requiring only that the president sign it.[3] The records of these presidential acts were openly available for public inspection until 1934. In 1981, the Office of the Pardon Attorney was created and records from President George H. W. Bush forward are listed.[4]

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Summary

More information President, Tenure ...
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George Washington

President George Washington pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 16 people.[3] Among them are:

  • Philip Vigol (or Wigle) and John Mitchel, convicted of treason for their roles in the Whiskey Rebellion

John Adams

Federalist president John Adams pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 20 people.[3] Among them are:

  • David Bradford, for his role in the Whiskey Rebellion
  • John Fries, for his role in Fries's Rebellion; convicted of treason due to opposition to a tax; Fries and others were pardoned, and a general amnesty was issued for everyone involved in 1800.

Thomas Jefferson

Democratic-Republican president Thomas Jefferson pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 119 people.[3] One of his first acts upon taking office was to issue a general pardon for any person convicted under the Sedition Act.[5] Among them are:

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James Madison

Democratic-Republican president James Madison pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 196 people.[3] Among them are:

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James Monroe

Democratic-Republican president James Monroe pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 419 people.[3] Among them are:

  • Numerous individuals convicted of piracy[7]

John Quincy Adams

Democratic-Republican president John Quincy Adams pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 183 people.[3] Among them are:

  • Captain L. O. Helland – arrested for having more passengers on board the vessel (Restauration) than were allowed by American law; pardoned in 1825
  • Wekau and Chickhonsic – Ho-Chunk leaders pardoned for their role in the Winnebago War[8]

Andrew Jackson

Democratic president Andrew Jackson pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 386 people.[3] Among them is:

  • George Wilson – convicted of robbing the United States mails. Strangely, Wilson refused to accept the pardon. The case went before the Supreme Court, and in United States v. Wilson the court stated: "A pardon is a deed, to the validity of which delivery is essential, and delivery is not complete without acceptance. It may then be rejected by the person to whom it is tendered; and if it is rejected, we have discovered no power in this court to force it upon him." While Wilson refused the pardon, he avoided being hanged unlike his accomplice who was. A report in The National Gazette of Philadelphia dated January 14, 1841, suggests that he was in prison for ten years until released. He received another pardon from President Martin Van Buren, which he accepted. However, the Smithsonian magazine has written that Wilson was hanged as a result of refusing the pardon.[9]
  • Fontaine H. Pettis – Convicted of perjury, pardoned November 16, 1831[10]
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Martin Van Buren

Democratic president Martin Van Buren pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 168 people.[3] Among them are:

William Henry Harrison

Whig president William Henry Harrison was one of only two presidents who issued no pardons, the other being James A. Garfield. This was due to Harrison's death shortly after taking office.

John Tyler

Whig president John Tyler pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 209 people.[3] Among them are:

  • Alexander William Holmes – sailor convicted of voluntary manslaughter (U.S. v. Holmes); pardoned

James K. Polk

Democratic president James K. Polk pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 268 people.[3] Among them are:

Zachary Taylor

Whig president Zachary Taylor pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 38 people.[3]

Millard Fillmore

Whig president Millard Fillmore pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 170 people.[3] Among them are:

  • Daniel Drayton and Edward Sayres – convicted in the Pearl incident (transporting slaves to freedom) in 1848; pardoned

Franklin Pierce

Democratic president Franklin Pierce pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 142 people.[3]

  • Noah Hanson – free black man who was tried and convicted of assisting slaves to escape, convicted in 1851; pardoned in 1854; only known presidential pardon of a black person for Underground Railroad activities[11]

James Buchanan

Democratic president James Buchanan pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 150 people.[3] Among them are:

Abraham Lincoln

Republican president Abraham Lincoln pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 343 people.[3] Among them are:

Andrew Johnson

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President Andrew Johnson pardoning rebels at the White House, sketched by Stanley Fox

Democratic president Andrew Johnson pardoned about 7,000 people in the "over $20,000" class (taxable property over $20,000) by May 4, 1866. More than 600 prominent North Carolinians were pardoned just before the election of 1864.[18] Johnson pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 654 people.[3] Among them are:

Ulysses S. Grant

Republican president Ulysses S. Grant pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 1,332 people.[3] Among them are:

Rutherford B. Hayes

Republican president Rutherford B. Hayes pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 893 people.[3] Among them is:

James A. Garfield

Republican president James A. Garfield was one of only two presidents who issued no pardons, the other being William Henry Harrison. This is because Garfield only served a few months before being assassinated.

Chester A. Arthur

Republican president Chester A. Arthur pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 337 people.[3] Among them is:

Grover Cleveland

Democratic president Grover Cleveland pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 1,107 (est.) people during his two, non-consecutive terms.[3] Among them are:

Benjamin Harrison

Republican president Benjamin Harrison pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 613 people.[3] Among them are:

Grover Cleveland

See list under first term.

William McKinley

Republican president William McKinley pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 918 (est.) people.[3] Among them are:

  • Alexander McKenzie – North Dakota political activist convicted of contempt of court in 1901; pardoned after spending three months in prison
  • Charles Chilton Moore – atheist newspaper publisher jailed for sending obscene material in the mail in 1899; sentence commuted after six months in prison

Theodore Roosevelt

Republican president Theodore Roosevelt pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 981 (est.) people.[3][21] Among them are:

  • Servillano Aquino – Filipino general who received a death sentence in 1902 for anti-American activities in the Philippines; pardoned after 2 years
  • Al Jennings – former train robber sentenced to life in prison for robbery in 1899; freed on technicality three years later; pardoned in 1904
  • Stephen A. Douglas Puter – convicted of land fraud in 1906; pardoned after 18 months so he could turn in state's evidence

William Howard Taft

Republican president William Howard Taft pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 758 people.[3] Among them are:

  • John Hicklin Hall – attorney and politician convicted in 1908 for his role in the Oregon land fraud scandal; pardoned
  • Charles W. Morse – ice shipping magnate convicted in 1909 of violations of federal banking laws; pardoned in 1912 due to ill health (later found to be feigned)
  • William Van Schaick – steamboat captain convicted for criminal negligence for the General Slocum steamship disaster of 1904; pardoned after 3+1⁄2 years in prison

Woodrow Wilson

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Democratic president Woodrow Wilson pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 2,480 people.[3] Among them are:

  • George Burdick – New York newspaper editor, who had refused to testify in federal court regarding the sources used in his article concerning the collection of customs duties. He pleaded the 5th Amendment; Wilson then granted him a full pardon for all of his federal offenses, which he refused. He continued to plead the 5th, at which he was sentenced by a federal judge for contempt. It was then that the Supreme Court (in Burdick v. United States) reinforced the necessity of accepting a pardon to be valid; the federal judge had imprisoned Burdick on the grounds that he was claiming falsely his need for protection against self-incrimination.[22]
  • Frederick Krafft – Socialist political candidate convicted for alleged violation of the Espionage Act in June 1918; pardoned after serving nine months; only person convicted under this law to receive a full executive pardon
  • Mike Boyle – convicted before Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis for violating the Sherman Antitrust Act and sentenced to one year's imprisonment; served four months and was pardoned[23]
  • Ben Reeves – son of Deputy United States Marshal Bass Reeves; convicted of murder on January 24, 1903, he was sentenced to life in prison; sentence commuted on November 10, 1914[24]

Warren G. Harding

Republican president Warren G. Harding pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 800 people.[3] Among them are:

Calvin Coolidge

Republican president Calvin Coolidge pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 1,545 people.[3] Among them are:

Herbert Hoover

Republican president Herbert Hoover pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 1,385 people.[3] Among them are:

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Democratic president Franklin D. Roosevelt granted 3,687 pardons in his almost 4 terms in office.[3] Among them are:

Harry S. Truman

Democratic president Harry S. Truman pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 2,044 people.[25] Among them are:

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Republican president Dwight D. Eisenhower pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 1,157 people.[25] Among them is:

  • Maurice L. Schick – military court-martial for murder in 1954; death sentence commuted to life imprisonment in 1960, with the condition that he would never be released. Legal challenge went to the Supreme Court, questioning the constitutionality of the punishment "life imprisonment without parole". Decided in Schick v. Reed that to be so sentenced was constitutional

"Until the Eisenhower Administration, each pardon grant was evidenced by its own separate warrant signed by the president. President Eisenhower began the practice of granting pardons by the batch, through the device of a 'master warrant' listing all of the names of those pardoned, which also delegated to the Attorney General (or, later, the Deputy Attorney General or Pardon Attorney) authority to sign individual warrants evidencing the president's action."[27]

John F. Kennedy

Democratic president John F. Kennedy pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 575 people.[25] Among them are:

Lyndon B. Johnson

Democratic president Lyndon B. Johnson pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 1,187 people.[25] Among them are:

Richard Nixon

Republican president Richard Nixon pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 926 people.[25] Among them are:

  • Jimmy Hoffa – prominent labor union leader convicted of fraud and bribery (tax evasion) in 1964; sentence commuted (with conditions) on December 23, 1971
  • Angelo DeCarlo – convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and extortion in March 1970; was pardoned in late 1972 due to poor health and died on October 20, 1973

Gerald Ford

Republican president Gerald Ford pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 409 people.[25] Among them are:

Jimmy Carter

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Democratic president Jimmy Carter pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 566 people,[25] and in addition to that pardoned over 200,000 Vietnam War draft evaders.[30] Among them are:

Ronald Reagan

Republican president Ronald Reagan pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 406 people.[25] Among them are:

George H. W. Bush

Main article: List of people pardoned by George H. W. Bush

Republican president George H. W. Bush pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 77 people.[25] Among them are:

Bill Clinton

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Main article: List of people pardoned by Bill Clinton

Democratic president Bill Clinton pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 459 people.[25] Among them are:

  • Almon Glenn Braswell – nutritional supplement magnate, convicted of mail fraud and perjury in 1983; pardoned
  • Henry Cisneros – Clinton's secretary of housing and urban development. Pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count for lying to the FBI in 1999 about payments to a mistress and was fined $10,000
  • Roger Clinton, Jr. – half-brother of Bill Clinton; pardoned after serving a year in federal prison (1985–86) for cocaine possession
  • John Deutch – Director of Central Intelligence, former Provost and University Professor, MIT. He had agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor for mishandling government secrets on January 19, 2001, but Clinton pardoned him in his last day in office, two days before the Justice Department could file the case against him.
  • Edward Downe, Jr. – convicted of wire fraud, filing false income tax returns, and securities fraud in 1992; pardoned
  • Elizam Escobar – Puerto Rican artist and activist, convicted of seditious conspiracy in 1980; pardoned
  • FALN – commuted the sentences of 16 members of FALN, a Puerto Rican clandestine paramilitary organization operating mostly in Chicago and New York City
  • Henry O. Flipper – first black West Point cadet who was found guilty of "conduct unbecoming an officer" in 1882; posthumously pardoned
  • Patty Hearst – convicted of bank robbery in 1976 after being kidnapped and allegedly brainwashed. Prison term commuted by Jimmy Carter and released from prison in 1979; fully pardoned by Clinton in 2001
  • Rick Hendrick – NASCAR team owner & champion; convicted of mail fraud in 1997; pardoned
  • Susan McDougal – business partner with Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton in the failed Whitewater land deal. Guilty of contempt of court, she served her entire sentence starting in 1998 and was then pardoned.
  • Samuel Loring Morison – former naval intelligence officer convicted of espionage and theft of government property in 1985; pardoned
  • Mel Reynolds – former Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois. Convicted of bank fraud and obstruction of justice in 1997; sentence commuted
  • Marc Rich, Pincus Green – business partners; indicted by U.S. Attorney on charges of tax evasion and illegal trading with Iran in 1983 and fled the country that year; pardoned in 2001 after Rich's ex-wife, Denise Eisenberg Rich, made large donations to the Democratic Party and the Clinton Foundation
  • Dan Rostenkowski – former Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois, indicted for his role in the Congressional Post Office scandal and pleaded guilty to mail fraud in 1996; served his entire 17-month sentence, then pardoned in December 2000
  • Fife Symington III – Governor of Arizona convicted of bank fraud in 1997; conviction overturned in 1999; subsequently pardoned[34]
  • Susan Rosenberg – former radical activist and domestic terrorist of the early 1970s, convicted of illegal explosives possession in 1984; commuted on January 20, 2001

George W. Bush

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Main article: List of people pardoned by George W. Bush

Republican president George W. Bush pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 200 people.[25] Among them were:

Barack Obama

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Main article: List of people granted executive clemency by Barack Obama

Democratic president Barack Obama pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 1,927 people.[39] Among them were:

  • James Cartwright – retired U.S. Marine Corps four-star general; pleaded guilty to giving false statements to federal investigators in 2016 and was awaiting sentencing; pardoned on January 17, 2017[40]
  • Dwight J. Loving – U.S. Army private sentenced to death in Texas for murdering two taxi drivers in 1988; ommuted to life without parole on January 17, 2017[41]
  • Chelsea Manning – U.S. Army whistleblower convicted by court-martial in July 2013; sentenced to 35 years in prison for providing classified documents to WikiLeaks; commuted on January 17, 2017[42]
  • Willie McCovey – professional baseball player; pleaded guilty to tax evasion in 1995 and received two years probation and a $5,000 fine; pardoned on January 17, 2017[43]
  • Ian Schrager – former co-owner of the famed dance club Studio 54; pleaded guilty to tax evasion in 1979 and received three and a half years in prison and a $20,000 fine; pardoned on January 17, 2017.[44]
  • Oscar López Rivera – FALN member sentenced in 1981 to 55 years in prison for seditious conspiracy, use of force to commit robbery, interstate transportation of firearms, and conspiracy to transport explosives with intent to destroy government property, and subsequently to an additional 15 years for attempted escape in 1988; commuted on January 17, 2017[45]

Donald Trump

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Main article: List of people granted executive clemency by Donald Trump

Republican president Donald Trump pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 237 people in his first presidency.

Joe Biden

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Democratic president Joe Biden pardoned, commuted, or rescinded more than 4000 convictions, among them were family and colleagues of past and present including the following:

  • On April 26, 2022, Biden issued 3 full pardons and 75 commutations.[87]
  • On October 1, 2022, Biden granted clemency to Franqui Flores and Efrain Antonio Campo Flores, two Venezuelans who are nephews of Nicolás Maduro's wife involved in the Narcosobrinos affair in 2015, as part of a prisoner exchange. Among the released American detainees were five oil executives, part of the group known as the Citgo Six.[88]
  • On October 6, 2022, Biden pardoned all those convicted of what was previously the federal offense of simple possession of marijuana, totaling 6,500, via Proclamation 10467.[89] This excluded non-U.S. citizens and those who were considered illegal immigrants at the time of their arrest.[90][91]
  • On December 30, 2022, Biden issued 6 pardons.[92]
    • Beverly Ann Ibn-Tamas, for second-degree murder in alleged self-defense against her abusive husband in 1977
    • Charlie Byrnes Jackson, one count of possession and sale of distilled spirits without tax stamps in 1964[93]
    • Vincente Ray Flores, for consuming drugs while serving in the military in 2006
    • John Dix Nock III, for renting and making for use, as an owner, a place for the purpose of manufacturing marijuana plants in 1996
    • Edward Lincoln De Coito III, for conspiracy to distribute marijuana in 1995
    • Gary Parks Davis, for illegal use of communication facility to facilitate unlawful cocaine transaction in 1978
  • On September 14, 2023, Biden issued 3 pardons as part of a prisoner exchange with Iran.[94]
    • Kaveh L. Afrasiabi – conspiracy to act as an unregistered agent of a foreign principal; acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign principal in 2021
    • Amin Hasanzadeh – conspiracy to unlawfully export technology to Iran and to defraud the United States; unlawful export of technology to Iran (seven counts)
    • Reza Sarhangpour Kafrani – conspiracy to unlawfully export goods to Iran via the United Arab Emirates, and to defraud the United States; unlawful exports and attempted unlawful export of goods to Iran via the United Arab Emirates (two counts); failure to file electronic export information; international money laundering (six counts)
  • On December 20, 2023, Biden pardoned Colombian businessman Alex Saab as part of a prisoner exchange with Venezuela. Saab was detained on charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and laundering of monetary instruments (eight counts).[95][96]
  • On April 24, 2024, Biden pardoned 11 people who were dealing with drugs.[97][98]
  • On November 22, 2024, Biden granted clemency to 3 Chinese citizens as a part of a U.S. exchange deal with China.[99]
    • Jin Shanlin – former doctoral student; sentenced to over eight years in prison for possession of child pornography
    • Xu Yanjun – alleged spy for China’s Ministry of State Security; serving a 20-year sentence for espionage crimes and attempting to steal trade secrets from several U.S. aviation and aerospace companies
    • Ji Chaoqun – enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserves and reporting to Xu, who was serving an eight-year sentence
  • On December 1, 2024, Biden pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, who was convicted of illegally buying and possessing a gun in June 2024. Hunter Biden had also pleaded guilty to nine tax related charges in September 2024. The pardon explicitly grants clemency for "any potential federal crimes that Hunter Biden may have committed 'from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024.'" Prior to this, Joe Biden had repeatedly promised throughout his presidency he would not pardon his son, having said "No one is above the law"[100] in relation to both his son's upcoming trial and the guilty verdict of Donald Trump's court trial. In a letter addressing the pardon he asserted that he had felt that Hunter Biden had been "selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted" in an effort he believed was instigated by his political opponents.[101]
  • On December 12, 2024, Biden commuted the sentences of 1,499 people and pardoned another 39 convicted of non-violent offenses[102] who had been released from prison to home incarceration during the COVID-19 pandemic, in the "largest single-day grant of clemency in modern history".[103] This included commuting the sentence of Michael Conahan, involved in the kids for cash scandal, and Rita Crundwell, who defrauded Dixon, Illinois over $50 million.[104][105]
  • On December 23, 2024, Biden commuted the sentences of 37 of 40 federal death row inmates to life in prison without possibility of parole. The three remaining who were not commuted were all either convicted of terrorism or hate-motivated mass murders: Robert Bowers, the perpetrator in the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting; Dylann Roof, who committed the 2015 Charleston church shooting; and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who carried out the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.[106]
  • On January 17, 2025, Biden commuted the sentences of 2,490 people.[107]
  • On January 19, 2025, Biden pardoned former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley, former Chief Medical Advisor to the President Dr. Anthony Fauci, members of Congress and staff who served on the United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack, and the U.S. Capitol and D.C. Metropolitan police officers who testified before the Select Committee, in his final hours of office.[108] Later that day, he also granted pardons for three of his siblings and two of their spouses, former chairman of the Kentucky Democratic Party Jerry Lundergan, and commuted the life imprisonment of Native American activist Leonard Peltier to home imprisonment for life.[109]

Donald Trump

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Main article: List of people granted executive clemency by Donald Trump

Trump began pardoning, commuting, or rescinding convictions upon the first day of his second presidency:

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