Politics

Did you know the autopen has been used for more than 200 years?

The autopen, a device used to duplicate signatures, has been making headlines in recent weeks as President Donald Trump has targeted former President Joe Biden’s use of the machine. In a post on social media, Trump said he has “terminated” any document signed by Biden with the autopen. The controversy has put a once-obscure office tool under the microscope.

From Polygraph to Modern Autopen

The earliest form of the autopen was patented in 1803 by inventor John Isaac Hawkins, who called the device a “polygraph.” Using two or more pens, the polygraph moved with a writer’s hand, creating one or more duplicate copies simultaneously.

Hawkins, who was born in England, returned to his home nation that year. At the time, he gave artist and museum director Charles Willson Peale – a lifelong friend of then-President Thomas Jefferson – the American rights to the polygraph.

In March 1804, Jefferson received his first polygraph. After using it extensively for years, Jefferson wrote that “the polygraph has spoiled me for the old copying press the copies of which are hardly ever legible . . . I could not, now therefore, live without the Polygraph.”

Autopens eventually used a template, made by carving a signature into a piece of plastic, and “a pen would then follow the channel, producing the signature.” Modern-day autopens no longer require a physical template thanks to technological advancements; now it’s all done digitally.

An Open Secret

For years, the White House denied the use of the autopen, but it later became an “open secret.” President Harry S. Truman, who took office in April 1945 in the wake of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s death, was “rumored to make use of the device,” according to the Shappell Manuscript Foundation. It is also suspected that President Gerald Ford used the autopen.

President John F. Kennedy frequently used the autopen, but his successor, President Lyndon B. Johnson, was the first to publicize the modern autopen’s use in the White House, allowing photographers to capture its existence during his term.

Presidents Jimmy Carter and Richard Nixon allegedly used the autopen to sign correspondence and documents, but Barack Obama was the first president known to use it for legislation. In 2011, he used the autopen to sign the Patriot Act extension.

Trump Versus Biden

Biden used the autopen during his single term in the White House, but some believe he wasn’t aware of all the decisions behind its use.

“Joe Biden was not involved in the Autopen process and, if he says he was, he will be brought up on charges of perjury,” Trump recently said. Earlier this year, he confirmed he has used the autopen as well, but “only for very unimportant papers.”

He told reporters that his administration “may use it, as an example, to send some young person a letter because it’s nice. You know, we get thousands and thousands of letters, letters of support [from] young people, from people that aren’t feeling well, etcetera. But to sign pardons and all of the things that [Biden] signed with an autopen is disgraceful.”

American presidents have used the autopen for hundreds of years, but only time will tell if Biden’s use of the device crossed a line.

1. The autopen, first known as a polygraph, was invented in 1804.
2. President Thomas Jefferson was the first president to use the autopen.
3. President Barack Obama made history when he used the autopen to sign the Patriot Act extension.