You’ve probably seen the footage. A President sits at a massive mahogany desk, surrounded by a crowd of smiling lawmakers and activists. He scribbles a tiny bit, puts the pen down, picks up another one, scribbles a tiny bit more, and repeats the process ten or twenty times. To a normal person, it looks like the leader of the free world is having a bit of a mechanical crisis with his stationery.
Honestly, it’s one of the quirkier traditions in D.C.
These presidential pens used to sign legislation aren't just for show. They are tiny pieces of history. They represent the exact moment a bill stops being a "bill" and starts being the law of the land. But why on earth do they need 22 pens to write one name? And what happens to those pens once the ink is dry?
The "One Pen Per Stroke" Madness
Basically, it’s all about the souvenirs. If a President signs a massive, era-defining law with just one pen, only one person gets a cool gift. If he uses twenty pens, he can thank twenty different people who busted their tails to get the bill through Congress.
Take Lyndon B. Johnson. LBJ was the absolute king of this. When he signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, he reportedly used over 75 pens. He’d do a tiny flourish of the "L," swap pens, do the loop of the "y," swap again. He handed the very first one to Hubert Humphrey, but the most famous recipient that day was Martin Luther King Jr. It’s a pretty powerful image—the President handing the physical tool of justice to the man who marched for it.
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Does it make the signature look weird?
Kinda. If you look at a document like the Affordable Care Act, which Barack Obama signed using 22 pens, the signature looks a little... jittery. It’s hard to keep the flow of your handwriting perfect when you’re stopping every two seconds to reach for a fresh Cross rollerball. Obama actually joked about it during the ceremony, saying he’d "gotten pretty good at this" after years of practice.
What Kind of Pens Do They Actually Use?
For a long time, the White House didn't really have a "brand." Back in the day, JFK was a big fan of the Esterbrook pens. They were cheap, reliable, and had that classic clear-barrel look. You can actually see them in old photos of his desk.
But things got more formal later on.
- The Cross Era: Since the 1970s, the A.T. Cross Company has been the unofficial-official supplier. Specifically, the Cross Townsend and the Cross Century II.
- Bill Clinton really leaned into the Townsend. It’s a thick, heavy pen that feels like it has some "gravitas."
- George W. Bush and Obama stuck with the Townsend for the big stuff, usually in a black lacquer finish with chrome or gold accents.
- Joe Biden shifted slightly to the Century II, which is a bit slimmer but still has that classic felt-tip or rollerball feel.
Then there’s Donald Trump. He famously broke the Cross streak for a while. He didn't like the "scratchy" feel of the traditional pens and preferred a Sharpie. Not just any Sharpie, though—he had the company make him custom black-and-gold markers that looked a bit more "presidential" while still giving him that bold, thick line he liked for his signature.
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Who Gets the Pens?
This is where the behind-the-scenes politics get interesting. The White House Staff Secretary is usually the one in charge of the "pen math." They have to figure out who the VIPs are. Usually, the list includes:
- The lead sponsors of the bill in the House and Senate.
- Key activists who lobbied for the change.
- Family members of people the bill is named after.
- The National Archives (they always keep at least one).
Sometimes, the pens end up in museums, like the Smithsonian or various Presidential Libraries. Other times, they end up on the mantelpiece of a retired Senator. If you ever see one for sale on eBay, be careful—there are a lot of "souvenir" pens that look official but weren't actually used in a ceremony. The real ones usually come with a certificate of authenticity on White House stationery.
The Autopen Controversy
We can't talk about presidential pens without mentioning the Autopen. This is a machine that mimics a President’s signature perfectly. Usually, it's used for routine mail or "thank you" notes because no human could sign 5,000 letters a day without their hand falling off.
However, in 2011, Barack Obama became the first President to sign an actual law via Autopen. He was in France for a G8 summit, and a bill to extend the Patriot Act was about to expire. Rather than flying the paper across the Atlantic, he authorized the machine back in D.C. to sign it for him. Constitutional scholars had a minor meltdown, but the Department of Justice basically said, "Yeah, it counts."
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Why This Tradition Still Matters
In an era where everything is digital and most of us sign documents with a finger on a tablet, the ritual of the presidential pens used to sign legislation feels like a throwback. It slows things down. It forces the President to look the people who helped him in the eye and say, "We did this."
It’s also a reminder that laws aren't just abstract ideas—they are physical things that require ink and paper and a human hand to become real.
Actionable Insights for History Buffs:
- If you're a collector: Look for the specific models mentioned (Cross Townsend or Century II) if you want the "Presidential" feel, but remember that the White House versions are often custom-engraved with the President's signature on the barrel.
- Museum visits: If you're in D.C., the National Museum of American History has a great collection of these. Seeing the pen LBJ used next to the actual Civil Rights Act is a different kind of experience than seeing it on a screen.
- Identify the real deal: Authentic signing pens from recent administrations are almost always felt-tip/rollerball, not fountain pens. Fountain pens are too risky for a fast-moving ceremony—nobody wants an ink blotch on a billion-dollar piece of legislation.
If you ever find yourself at a bill signing (hey, it could happen!), keep your eyes on the President's hands. The number of pens on that desk is a direct reflection of how many political favors he owes or how many people he’s trying to make happy.