When Did Presidents Start Using the Autopen?

The autopen is a mechanical device designed to replicate human handwriting, particularly signatures. Over the past two centuries, it has evolved from a novelty into a versatile tool, used not only for presidential business but also by celebrities, authors and executives.

The first version of this handy tool emerged in the early 19th century. Its original form was a wooden contraption that duplicated handwriting as it was being written. The device held twin pens: one for a person to write with and another that moved synchronously to reproduce the text on a separate page.

Called a polygraph—not to be confused with the eponymous “lie detector” developed in the 1920s—the device was created and patented in 1803 by inventor John Isaac Hawkins. Hawkins is also credited with designing the upright piano and an early version of the mechanical pencil.

In 1804, Thomas Jefferson ditched his copying press (an early form of a copier) for a polygraph to duplicate his personal correspondences. He later said that it spoiled him and he “could not, now therefore, live without the polygraph.”

While the polygraph was a boon for those who needed instant copies of their writings, it was not able to mimic human handwriting without direct input. Circus showman P.T. Barnum (1810–1891) reportedly had a machine that could reproduce his signature but little information verifies its existence.

Many consider the first commercially available autopen for signatures to be the Robot Pen, described in a 1937 issue of Popular Mechanics. It used a “secret process” to create a template of a signature, similar to how vinyl records encode sound.

The first commercially successful autopen was created by engineer Robert De Shazo Jr. at the Naval Torpedo Factory in Virginia and debuted in the early 1940s. Shazo’s invention used a signature mold, a fixed template that guided the machine in reproducing a person’s handwriting. Use of the device quickly spread from the Navy throughout the federal government—including the president’s desk.

Since World War II, numerous presidents have embraced autopens to sign routine documents like letters and photographs, from Harry Truman to John F. Kennedy to Gerald Ford. Lyndon B. Johnson even allowed his autopen to be photographed for a 1968 National Enquirer article.

In 2005, the Justice Department, in response to a query from George W. Bush, concluded that presidents may use autopens to sign bills and other executive documents. In 2011, Barack Obama became the first president known to do so when he signed a Patriot Act extension while in France.