I noticed that Howard Dean mentioned this morning in the Wall Street Journal (no link available) that in order to rein in government spending, he would “not be afraid to use the veto — a power President Bush has yet to exercise.”
I hadn’t given it much thought, but the good doctor is, of course, right. Bush hasn’t vetoed anything since taking office. It shouldn’t be a big surprise, since he’s had a very conservative Republican House majority since his inauguration and a Republican majority in the Senate for most of his term.
Nevertheless, as a historical matter, that isn’t any kind of guarantee, since other presidents — most recently Jimmy Carter — have vetoed bills despite the same party controlling both houses of Congress and the White House.
If Bush finishes his term (hopefully, his one and only term) without vetoing anything, will he be the first among U.S. presidents? No, others have done the same thing, but it’s been a long time.
In all, six presidents have served without using the power of the veto — John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, John Quincy Adams, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, and James Garfield. (If you want to get technical about it, William Henry Harrison is the seventh president not to have used the veto pen, but since his entire presidency only lasted a couple of weeks, I’m not inclined to count him.)
Looking over the list, you’ll notice that none of these other presidents worked in the White House recently. In fact, Bush will be the first president in 150 years to serve a full term without vetoing something.
This concludes our history lesson for the day.