U.S. Executive Branch-The President: Presidential Documents and Publications

The following are some of the major documents to come out of the Executive branch.

• Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States (1929 to present). Official publication of United States Presidents' public writings, addresses, and remarks.
  • Historical copies from 1929 to present: MAIN J80 .A73.
  • Note: The Franklin Delano Roosevelt papers were published privately: The public papers and addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt, with a special introduction and explanatory notes by President Roosevelt, New York, Random House 1938-50: MAIN E807.A5.
  • Also available via Hein Online (UCB Only)
• Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents (1993 to present). The publication contains executive orders, statements, messages, and other Presidential materials released by the White House during the preceding week.
  • Hein Online (1977 to 2009) UCB Access Only
  • Historical copies from 1965-2000: MAIN J80 .A78.

• Federal Register (1994 to present) via FDSys
  Executive orders and proclamations become effective upon their publication in the daily Federal Register.
  • FederalRegister.gov (Search and comment on proposed regulations)
  • Historical copies of the Federal Register:
    • 1936-present: Hein Online (UCB Only)
    • 1936-1950: NRLF J10 .A15
    • 1951-1980: MICROFILM 1345 J NEWS
    • 1981-present: MICROFICHE 4604 NEWS
• Code of Federal Regulations (1997 to present) via FDSys
  • Also available via Hein Online, 1938-Present (UCB Only)
  • Title 3 of the CFR is the annual cumulation of the text of Executive orders and proclamations.
    • Codification of Presidential Proclamations and Executive Orders (April 13, 1945, through January 20, 1989)
    • Executive Orders Disposition Tables
      • Reference information about EO's, starting with EO 7532, January 8, 1937
      • Links to full text of EO's, starting with EO 12834, January 20, 1993
    • Historical copies of Title 3 from beginning with executive Order 7316 of March 13, 1936 to present.
      • DREF JK 630 .A4.
• CIS Index to Presidential Executive Orders . [DREF KF70 .A55 1986] The index provides access to orders from 1789-1983. The companion microfiche are located at UC Riverside and are available through direct loan procedures. UCB holds a separate collection of orders from 1845-June 1936 (MICROFILM 20463).
• Legislative Source Book: Research Guide to Federal Register and C.F.R. via Law Librarians' Society of Washington, D.C.
• Presidential Directives and Executive Orders via Federation of American Scientists
• Budget of the United States (1996 to present)
  • Historical copies: Main HJ2051 .A6
• Economic Report of the President (1995 to present)
  • Historical copies: Main HC106.5 .A28

• American Presidency Project (via UC Santa Barbara)--Provides access to many presidential publications from Washington to present.
• Presidential Documents Guide (via the National Archives)
• Presidential Inaugurations (via the Library of Congress)

When Presidents leave office, the National Archives takes over the old White House website.  Here are the previous White House websites.

• President Donald Trump
• President Barack Obama
• President George W. Bush
• President Bill Clinton

Executive orders and proclamations are the way the President prescribes the conduct of business in the executive branch. Executive Orders relate to how and what executive agencies (Dept of Agriculture etc.,) do. For example, E.O. 9066 was a directive to the U.S. War Relocation Authority to intern Japanese Americans. Most Executive Orders have the force of law.

Presidential proclamations may be pardons (and therefore have the force of law) or may be for celebratory times such as National Dairy Week.

Proclamations appear in:

• Statutes at large of the United States
  • KA10 A2 Doe Reference (1789-present)
  • Library of Congress Law Library (1789-1875)
    • Proquest Congressional (1789-present) UCB Only
• Federal Register
  • FDSys (1994-present)
  • Proquest Congressional (1980-present) UCB Only
  • HeinOnline (1936-1993) UCB Only
  • J10.A15 NRLF [v.1(1936)-15(1950) indexes bound with volumes]
• Code of Federal Regulations, Title 3 (bound and indexed in Doe Reference)
  • JK630.A4 1949 Doe Reference (1936-present)
  • FDSys (1996-present)
    • Lexis/Nexis Congressional (1981-present) UCB Only

Executive orders appear in:

• Federal Register
  • FDSys (1994-present)
  • Proquest Congressional (1980-present) UCB Only
  • HeinOnline (1936-1993) UCB Access Only
  • J10.A15 Main [v.1(1936)-15(1950) indexes bound with volumes]
• Code of Federal Regulations, Title 3, 1936- (bound and indexed in DREF)
  • JK630.A4 1949 Doe Reference (1936-present)
  • FDSys (1996-present)
    • Proquest Congressional (1981-present) UCB Only