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Presidents Who Use the Executive Action the Most


vcczar

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Here's a list of presidents by Executive Actions-per-year. They don't really take off until Teddy Roosevelt. They decrease after Truman. I think the drastic increase in the size of the federal government--new offices, more employees, etc., contributed to the huge increase in executive orders.:

  1. FDR 307
  2. Hoover 242
  3. Wilson 225
  4. Harding 217
  5. Coolidge 215
  6. Taft 181
  7. T Roosevelt 145
  8. Biden 119 *On pace for this #*
  9. Truman 117
  10. Carter 80
  11. JFK 75
  12. Ford 69
  13. LBJ 63
  14. Nixon 62
  15. Eisenhower 61
  16. Trump 55
  17. Reagan 48
  18. Clinton 46
  19. GHW Bush 42
  20. McKinley 41
  21. GW Bush 36
  22. B Harrison 36
  23. Cleveland (2nd term) 35
  24. Obama 35
  25. Cleveland (1st term) 28
  26. Arthur 28
  27. Grant 27
  28. Hayes 23
  29. A Johnson 20
  30. Lincoln 12
  31. Garfield 11
  32. Pierce 9
  33. Fillmore 5
  34. Polk 5
  35. Taylor 4
  36. Buchanan 4
  37. Tyler 4
  38. Van Buren 3
  39. Jackson 2
  40. JQ Adams 1
  41. Jefferson 1
  42. Washington 1
  43. Monroe >1
  44. Madison >1
  45. J Adams >1
  46. WH Harrison 0
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5 minutes ago, Patine said:

Executive actions have become thoroughly abused as a backdoor, "decree by fiat," (dictatorial terminology intended), much like Orders in Council have in the UK. A dangerous tool that really should be blunted - and much more stringently defined and limited.

If you'll notice, they've decreased greatly. Obama only averaged 35 a year. They most only effect the executive branch, so a lot of the time the executive actions are more symbolic than substantive. 

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Just now, ConservativeElector2 said:

What strikes me the most is that most presidents have served at least full four years or even eight and Biden's in office for barely six months.

That's if it happened that way over 8 years (it's an average per year - so 119 per year, if it goes at this rate). It makes me wonder if most presidents to more Executive Orders early - primarily to enact their "100 Days" material, then slow down over time.

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1 minute ago, Hestia said:

That's if it happened that way over 8 years (it's an average per year - so 119 per year, if it goes at this rate). It makes me wonder if most presidents to more Executive Orders early - primarily to enact their "100 Days" material, then slow down over time.

Thanks for pointing this out. I didn't get it from the above description.

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1 minute ago, ConservativeElector2 said:

Thanks for pointing this out. I didn't get it from the above description.

Biden has 50 exec orders. The asterisk next to Biden says that he's on pace for that #, not that he has that #. 

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47 minutes ago, vcczar said:

Here's a list of presidents by Executive Actions-per-year. They don't really take off until Teddy Roosevelt. They decrease after Truman. I think the drastic increase in the size of the federal government--new offices, more employees, etc., contributed to the huge increase in executive orders.:

  1. FDR 307
  2. Hoover 242
  3. Wilson 225
  4. Harding 217
  5. Coolidge 215
  6. Taft 181
  7. T Roosevelt 145
  8. Biden 119 *On pace for this #*
  9. Truman 117
  10. Carter 80
  11. JFK 75
  12. Ford 69
  13. LBJ 63
  14. Nixon 62
  15. Eisenhower 61
  16. Trump 55
  17. Reagan 48
  18. Clinton 46
  19. GHW Bush 42
  20. McKinley 41
  21. GW Bush 36
  22. B Harrison 36
  23. Cleveland (2nd term) 35
  24. Obama 35
  25. Cleveland (1st term) 28
  26. Arthur 28
  27. Grant 27
  28. Hayes 23
  29. A Johnson 20
  30. Lincoln 12
  31. Garfield 11
  32. Pierce 9
  33. Fillmore 5
  34. Polk 5
  35. Taylor 4
  36. Buchanan 4
  37. Tyler 4
  38. Van Buren 3
  39. Jackson 2
  40. JQ Adams 1
  41. Jefferson 1
  42. Washington 1
  43. Monroe >1
  44. Madison >1
  45. J Adams >1
  46. WH Harrison 0

Why are the ones on top from the early 1900s?

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2 minutes ago, vcczar said:

I give a reason right before the list. 

Oh sorry, didn't see that.

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2 minutes ago, Dobs said:

What exactly does more than 1 mean? They were writing a second and then got bored with it? Also, why is more than 1 under a flat 1?

Oops that should be the other way...less than 1 on average a year.

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13 hours ago, DakotaHale said:

Very unexpected seeing Coolidge and Harding in the top five

Yeah, I'm surprised too, especially considering Congress was completely on their side. There was no threat of blocking what they wanted to do if they went via Congress. That's why I think the actions are probably aligned with a growing executive branch to handle the growing duties of the federal government.

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