When is the last time a US president ever admitted a policy error?

[Boyo Jim]

When was the last time a sitting US President ever say the equivalent of, "My way didn't work. We'll have to try something else."

Has it ever happened?

I'm not talking about apologies for dope smoking in college or sex out of wedlock.

[rocking chair]

i believe it may be jfk and the bay of pigs. i'll try to hunt up a source.

[rocking chair]

http://www.watchblog.com/republicans/archives/001052.html

this mentioned the apology from jfk.

there is a reagan apology regarding the arms for hostages deal.

[Richard Parker]

Clinton said he was wrong on Rwanda, among other things. Cite. (http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/03/31/1080544556703.html)

[Squink]

Clinton: Mistakes were made (http://www.s-t.com/daily/01-97/01-29-97/a01wn009.htm) President Clinton conceded yesterday that "mistakes were made" by the White House in raising millions of dollars for his re-election campaign. But he insisted his administration was never for sale to fat-cat contributors.
"I never made a decision for anybody because they were contributors of mine," the president declared. He said investigators will have to decide whether fund-raising mistakes were made deliberately or inadvertently. (1997)

[Mr. Moto]

Explicit or implicit?

Bush lifted the steel tariffs he had imposed in late 2003, far before they were to expire. It could only be interpreted as an abandonment of an untenable political position.

[LivingInThePast]

Explicit or implicit?

Bush lifted the steel tariffs he had imposed in late 2003, far before they were to expire. It could only be interpreted as an abandonment of an untenable political position.Based on my interpretation of the OP, it has to be explicit. Although, as Clinton would say, it depends on what "say" means.

;)

Somehow, I can't see G.W. apologizing for much of anything, even if he did change his mind.

[Catalyst]

Somehow, I can't see G.W. apologizing for much of anything, even if he did change his mind. If I had to guess, I'd say this is probably where the OP was headed with this question.

[Boyo Jim]

Reagan doesn't count. He claimed that there was no policoy of arms for hostages, but that overzealous staffers had corrupted the process.

I'm not so sure about JFK. He may have been simply apologizing for failing, not for the policy of overthrowing Cuba by force. I will look for some verbatim comments on this.

The link about Clinton and Rwanda suggests he apologized after leaving office, and lied about his reasoning to boot.

"Mistakes were made" is a classic denial of personal responsibility. Doesn't come close to counting.

[Richard Parker]

The link about Clinton and Rwanda suggests he apologized after leaving office, and lied about his reasoning to boot.

Poppycock. The link reads:

On a visit to the Rwandan capital, Kigali, in 1998 Mr Clinton apologised for not acting quickly enough or immediately calling the crimes genocide.


Cheers.

[Richard Parker]

I realized I should have been more specific.

1) Clinton did apologize while in office (1998).

2) While your claim that he "lied about his reasoning" has some merit (Clinton probably knew what was going on in Rwanda and chose not to act), the apology doesn't say: "I'm sorry, I didn't know..." or "I'm sorry the US was unable to prevent this". It says "I'm sorry we didn't act..." That is an apology for choosing not to act, no?

[Boyo Jim]

Yes, yes it is. Score one for Clinton.

[Diceman]

Still, Clinton claimed that he didn't act because he didn't realize what was going on in Rwanda. But that claim was a lie, per the recently declassified documents which show that the White House knew exactly what was happening.

So, Clinton did apologize, but it was a somewhat disingenuous apology.

[rjung]

Bush lifted the steel tariffs he had imposed in late 2003, far before they were to expire. It could only be interpreted as an abandonment of an untenable political position.
That's not an apology, that's a flip-flop. ;)

[EvilGhandi]

I clearly recall Clinton saying, in a speech, "You may think I raised taxes too much, well, I think I raised them too much too." Or something very close to that.

That sounds like an admission of error. He did announce a new tax scheme, so the criteria of trying something else is met. I don't recall an appology per say, but it seemed as if one was implied.

Someone here can dig up the old speech, I'm sure.

Bush may very well have a changed a minor policy for a more streamlined version that works better but nothing specific comes to mind.

So my answer to the OP is, The last administration for sure, possibly this one.