I was watching CNN the other day and saw President Clinton signing some treaty or something. I noticed that every time he went to sign his name he would put grab a new pen from a set that was right next to the document. If there was another line for him to sign, he would put down the pen he just used and grab a new one. WTF???
Does BiC® have some kinda government contract? Is this some front to aquire funds for a top secret project? I can just see it, some annomynous congressman,“Yes Mr. Speaker, we need to approve this years alotment of Bic® pens, does $40,000,000 sound ok?”
It’s traditional for the president to give a pen that he signed some legislation with to a representative or senator who sponsored the bill (or helped get a treaty passed in your example).
Since there are multiple sponsors, he uses multiple pens.
There’s also a lot of symbolic value to the pens used in signing (supposedly) historic legislation. For example, if President Clinton were signing a piece of legislation pertaining to Social Security, he might sign the bill with a pen that had belonged to Franklin Roosevelt (father of Social Security). If he were signing a bill dealing with gun control, he might use a pen that had belonged to James Brady (or Abe Lincoln, or some other famous victim of gun violence). If the bill pertained to civil rights in some way, he might use the pen that Lyndon Johnson used to sign the Civil Rights Act of 1964… and so on.
IIRC, there were about 2 or 3 dozen pens that Johnson used to sign the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He used a different one for each stroke of his name. I don’t think all of them went to sponsors of the law. Some went to civil rights leaders and such.
Yes, I have noticed this and cannot help the feeling that it cheapens the entire thing greatly. It makes it all a farce and a show. Using several pens to write one or two words? Gimme a break! I hate it when the show takes over the substance of the acts. But I guess that’s politics: showbiz.
I just wanted to point out that pen significance extends beyond the realm of politics. In the business world, it is common practice to present a pen as a gift when signing an important contract. Thus, when A signs a big deal at B’s request, B would supply the pen and A would keep it.
If the deal was for a lot of money, the pen would have a corresponding worth. That is why you can buy pens that cost thousands of dollars. Seems stupid to me - you know how many, really nice Bic pens I can buy for a thousand dollars?
Some pens cost upwards of $100,000. No joke. It’s sick.
