Autopen Autographing
Since the early 1950s almost all American presidents have had an autopen or robot machine for the automatic signing of a signature as an autograph machine for their letters, photographs, books, and even official documents. The Signa-Signer can even write out in ink an authentically looking handwritten message that has been typed into the machine. One book detailing the use of this machine by President John F. Kennedy (1961–1963) is The Robot That Helped to Make a President.
Since the 1960s, the practice of using an autopen has spread to U.S. Cabinet members and to U.S. Senators, and many other personalities who have a high volume of correspondence with the public.
Astronaut Alan Shepard acknowledged that NASA used the autopen machine to sign the astronauts' voluminous correspondence. Many large corporations also use these machines for signing business letters. One might think that autopen signatures would constantly match one another. However, even autopen signatures will eventually change as the signature drum becomes worn and thereby alters the signature. Due to these professional imitations, one must be wary of buying presidential or astronaut signatures from unknown sellers.
In December 2004, a controversy arose when it was revealed that United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, was using an autopen to sign letters-of-condolence to families of American military members who had died in the line of duty while serving under Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. Shortly thereafter, Rumsfeld announced that he would start to personally sign such letters.
Read more about this topic: Autograph