John F Kennedy vs Ronald Reagan

AI-written. Written on October 8, 2026 by Claude Opus 5.5 (Anthropic, claude-opus-5-5) from public sources fetched that day (listed below). Every figure links to its source. Checked by the same automated quality gate as The Presidential Record: no number, name or term that is not in the text of the sources, no quotation marks, no party labels or loaded words, no endorsement or prediction. Where a law or order is restated, its own wording is kept closely and the sentence names the law or order it comes from. The gate can miss things; corrections are welcome through the site’s feedback form.

This page lists the documented records of President Kennedy and President Reagan together, using official sources. It does not say which record is better. Each number links to its source, and every source was checked on October 8, 2026.

Time in office

The National Archives lists the Kennedy presidency as 1961-1963 and the Reagan presidency as 1981-1989. The American Presidency Project lists 2.84 years in office for Kennedy and 8.00 years for Reagan, so totals below cover very different lengths of time.

Executive orders

According to The American Presidency Project, Kennedy issued 214 executive orders, numbered 10914 to 11127, an average of 75 per year. Reagan issued 381, numbered 12287 to 12667, an average of 48 per year. The National Archives disposition tables list the same number ranges.

Two examples from the disposition tables: Executive Order 10924, signed March 1, 1961, provided for the establishment and administration of the Peace Corps in the Department of State. Executive Order 12291, titled Federal Regulation, was signed February 17, 1981, and was later revoked by Executive Order 12866.

Selected laws signed

Kennedy: the Peace Corps Act, Public Law 87-293, September 22, 1961.
Kennedy: the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, Public Law 87-794, October 11, 1962.
Reagan: the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981, Public Law 97-34, August 13, 1981.
Reagan: the Social Security Amendments of 1983, Public Law 98-21, April 20, 1983.

These laws are a selection, not a complete list of the laws each president signed.

Unemployment rate

From the Bureau of Labor Statistics monthly unemployment rate (series LNS14000000, seasonally adjusted): the rate was 6.6 percent in January 1961 and 5.7 percent in November 1963. Between those months it ranged from 5.4 percent (July and October 1962, August 1963) to 7.1 percent (May 1961).

For Reagan, the same series shows 7.5 percent in January 1981 and 5.4 percent in January 1989. Between those months it ranged from 5.3 percent (November and December 1988) to 10.8 percent (November and December 1982). Unemployment depends on many conditions besides the actions of a president.

Public approval (Gallup)

The American Presidency Project lists presidential job approval data adapted from the Gallup Poll. For Kennedy, approval was 72 percent in the first poll listed (February 10 to 15, 1961) and 58 percent in the last (November 8 to 13, 1963). In all of his polls, approval ranged from 56 to 83 percent.

For Reagan, approval was 51 percent in the first poll listed (January 30 to February 2, 1981) and 63 percent in the last (December 27 to 29, 1988). In all of his polls, approval ranged from 35 to 68 percent.

Reading these figures

The two presidencies differ in length, era and economic conditions, so the figures are not directly comparable. This page leaves any judgment to the reader and links every number to its source.