Donald Trump’s claim about presidential salaries runs into a problem that starts long before his White House tenure. At a Hispanic Heritage Month celebration on Sept. 30, Trump said he was “the only president that donated his salary,” adding that he does not expect anyone else to give him credit.
Herbert Hoover and John F. Kennedy also gave away their presidential salaries
Trump said his second-term paychecks went toward White House renovations, which he called “White House preservation.” CNN reporter Daniel Dale said Trump donated his first 2025 check to the White House Historical Association (via People).
The historical record points to Herbert Hoover and John F. Kennedy, who both donated their presidential salaries. Hoover served from 1929 to 1933 and earned $75,000 a year. Kennedy entered office in 1961, when the presidential salary had increased to $100,000.
In a 1937 newspaper interview, Hoover said he kept his presidential salary separate and later directed the money toward causes he considered worthwhile, including charities and underpaid government workers. “I therefore kept the money that came to me as salary in a separate account and distributed it where I thought it would do the most good,” Hoover said at the time.
Kennedy followed a similar example decades later. When his administration announced plans to donate his presidential salary, it pointed to Hoover’s approach as a precedent. Wire reports noted that Kennedy, who came from a wealthy New England family, would direct the money to charitable causes instead.
Trump has also made claims about past presidents and their salaries that conflict with the historical record. He has said figures such as Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy kept their presidential pay, and in February, he repeated the broader claim in Georgia, calling himself the only president to give up the money. “There’s never been a president who waived his salary. I’m the only schmuck,” Trump said.