Among the most highly prized tokens of legislative achievement are the pens presidents employ to seal it. Catering to the demand for so-called bill signers, presidents have found creative ways to increase the supply, from changing pens for each letter to adding various accents and squiggles. When President Kennedy found himself with more pens to use than letters left to write, he made up the difference by artistically underlining his signature. When President Reagan accidentally wrote two letters with one pen rather than the planned one-to-one ratio, he declared, “Oops, one letter too many. I'll have to catch up here someplace.” Ultimately he did. After completing his signature, the president explained to an aide, “I figured how to do it…. I'll make one part of the ‘n’” (13 August 1981).

Disjointed autographs notwithstanding, presidents' multiple-pen practice persists, and for good reason. As one article about John F. Kennedy's ballooning pen distribution noted, “It's a painless way to get on the good side of an important committee chairman, to give a lift to a supporter who's up for re-election or to recognize a friend in the other party. Who could do as much with a sword?” (The New York Times, 7 January 1962). At the same time, it is important to distinguish pens used to sign legislation from other White House trinkets.