A historical look at presidential vetoes

Though he still has almost a year and a half in office, and a Republican Congress to deal with, President Obama is on the low end of presidents in the number of bill she has vetoed. The veto of the defense spending bill was his fifth. None have been overridden.

- Wikipedia (of course) has a full list of all presidential vetoes, click here for it.

And here's a handy chart:



Franklin Roosevelt's vetoes were largely due to the innovative nature of the proposals he made
to deal with the Great Depression and World War II. Grover Cleveland's vetoes involved cancelling what he believed were pork barrel projects and pensions for Civil War veterans.

History.com has info on the first piece of vetoed legislation. On April 5, 1992 George Washington vetoed a bill that would have increased the number of seats held by northern states in the House of Representatives.

- Click here for the story.
- Here's the notice from Senate.Gov.

Congress sent an adjusted bill to Washington later, which he signed. Thomas Jefferson advised Washington to suggest a mathematical formula be used to apportion seats across the states so it would be neutrally done.

- Click here for the bill he signed: Apportionment Act of 1792