[OC] Executive Orders Issued During the First Years of U.S. Presidents
Friday, 28 Mar 2025
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![[OC] Executive Orders Issued During the First Years of U.S. Presidents](https://meta.cdns.win/en/2025/03/OC-Executive-Orders-Issued-During-the-First-Years-of-US-860x823.webp)
The source is the [Federal Register](https://www.federalregister.gov/presidential-documents/executive-orders), which documents all published EOs going back to the 1930s, in addition to the [White House](https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/), which publishes the latest EOs. I used ggplot2 in R to make the graph and added the annotations in Adobe Illustrator.
Edit: damn, Trump’s first term should be labelled 2017, not 2016.
Fox News did a segment during the Biden administration saying that Biden was a dictator and hungry for control bc of all of his executive orders.
Remember the outrage over Obama’s use of executive orders? Seems almost quaint, now.
And now I realize that I have fallen victim to propaganda because I have always heard that Obama and Biden were executive order crazy and did wild amounts of them. I assumed that might be somewhat exaggerated, but that they would still be up there instead of having a downright modest amount lol
Didn’t realize how much FDR used EOs…
and Trump complained so much about Obama’s exec orders
Can you layer which days the current President went golfing to see whether it aligns with the date without executive orders?
There’s precedent. Though the next Dem president can just sign an executive order that ‘undoes everything Trump enacted’. So instead of signing a thousand, they can sign 1.
That’s funny because during Obama’s term his opposition made it seem like he was the reigning king of executive orders
Fdr solving a depression, trump creating one
Ok, I get FDR, the depression will do that. I get Trump because he’s a fascist sack of shit. Truman makes sense with WWII.
What the hell is Herbert Hoover doing here?
Now the real question is how many of the executive orders are just flat out illegal. I’d wager over 50% and that’s generously low
For all non Trump presidents here is it their first term? (Excluding Biden obviously)
Number of EO’s is not really a useful metric. An order declaring National Pottery Day is not the same thing as one abolishing an entire cabinet-level Department of the government (like what happened today).
AI is cranking out those EOs!
Totally minor, but why is Trumps first presidency listed as 2016, but the second as 2025? Is there something I’m not getting or is that just a typo?
The difference is that FDR was facing a crushing recession, with the economy tanking. This included food lines,soup kitchens, stockbrokers committing suicide. Currently, this is now a crisis of the President’s own making. He is manufacturing an instability for the Unites States government, our economy and for world markets.
FDR came to power during a crisis. Trump is creating a crisis.
See it’s basically the same.
And now Trump is basically becoming Anti FDR. Using his executive orders to destroy America and ensure his eternal power to ruin it. There is no more hope in this country. America is dead.
I wish there were a limit to EOs like…5 a year or something.
EOs have become more widely used in recent years due to divisive politics. Undoing the last guy’s legacy is considered a required mandate.
The supreme court’s willingness to cede power to the executive branch will only make EOs more common going forward.
Sad state of affairs for those of us who respect(ed) checks and balances.
Honestly shocked at how low Obama was given folks were humming and hawing about how many he signed. If my math is right he signed less than any two term POTUS since Grover Cleveland.
Clinton had 59 in his first year, so on par with Bush https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_executive_actions_by_Bill_Clinton
FDR was considered overall a great president for his actions, I guess Trump is trying to follow in his footsteps.
I remember a few years ago under Trump 1.0, people kept calling for an FDR-type President. At first, I resisted because I felt that the challenges of the 21st Century were the ones that FDR dealt with.
I should’ve resisted because apparently we’d end up with someone trying to skirt term limits and rapidly expanding executive power.
For at least 2 decades, Dems have been clamoring for a President that took the reins of power and just did things, to hell with public opinion! Someone who was t tied to donor money and could buck the traditional 2 party stranglehold on our politics.
Well… we got it.
The coward can’t govern even while having all three branches
This is what Biden should have done. I will never understand why he didn’t have a giant stack of EOs *and* a giant stack of pink slips ready to go on day one.
creepy headshot, fucking everything is a joke
the necessary should be done, many people are saying
As a true conservative (not a trump fan) I think executive orders should be heavily restricted by an act of congress that limits them in the future. That will never happen. But it should.
Presidents who hold no real power, sign countless executive orders.
All of which will be overturned as soon as the Supreme Court can catch up to all his foolishness.
50 bucks says the republicans will celebrate his 100th order for absolutely no reason.
He playin his “Trump” cards! 🤣
Remember when Cons (including trump) constantly attacked Obama for his EOs? trump has signed more in 4+ years than Obama did in 8. But trump’s are different …. somehow!
There is a big difference between FDR and Trump. FDR used executive authority to make people’s lives better. Trump uses executive authority to rape the people for his personal gain.
Just talked to my Faux News watching brother about Trump ruling from EO and he said Oh that was because of Obama.
I will have to send him this image
Instead of the New Deal, this time Americans are getting the Raw Deal.
I recently commented on a[ similar post](https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/1iudzor/oc_presidential_executive_orders_by_first_100_days/) (which appears to have been removed by moderators), where the data excluded most of FDR’s presidency. This appears to remedy that post.
I would like to see for all of these, how many executive orders are just undoing executive orders from the previous administration. I’d wager Obama, Trump, and Biden’s numbers would drop pretty significantly.
The majority of the voters, voted for change, ASAP.
What were those other guys doing?
I feel like they’d weigh their EO’s much more carefully if they were capped at like, 50 per year.
I remember when republicans freaked out at bidens eo’s in his first 100 days too