Obama pardons a man who laundered Canadian fish 20 years ago

Obama pardons a man who laundered Canadian fish 20 years ago

Too soon.

When it comes to pardons, President Obama has been the stingiest president. Counting the latest batch, he has pardoned 39 altogether, or fewer than 10 per year.

Other recent Presidential averages per year:

Bush II: 23.6
Clinton: 49.5
Bush I: 18.5
Reagan: 49.1
Carter: 133.5
Ford: 158.1
Nixon: 154.6
Johnson: 185.8
JFK: 166.6
Eisenhower: 138.8
Truman: 246.9

Clinton's average is misleading. He averaged only about 10 per year in his first five years in office, but ramped it up every year in his second term, until he issued a flurry of pardons (218) on his way out of the door in fiscal 2001.

FDR holds the record for annual pardons (424 in 1944) and lifetime pardons (2819 in 11+ years, about the same average per year as Truman).

Truman was the last president to grant 400 pardons in a year (1950). He only received 504 petitions that year, to which he granted 400 pardons, 17 commutations, and 13 remissions. Truman never issued fewer than 178 pardons in a full year in office.

Every President before FDR averaged 95+ except Teddy Roosevelt, and the annual numbers were quite consistent in the 1900-1933 era, rarely less than 100 (excepting Teddy's years), never more than 200. While no pre-FDR president had ever issued 200 in a year, Woodrow "The Woodman" Wilson pardoned 198 in 1920, and Herbert "Vacuum" Hoover doled out 199 in fiscal 1933.

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