Government Documents: Presidential Directives

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Article II, Section 1 of the United States Constitution establishes executive power vested in a President.

Presidential directives are the mechanism through which the president prescribes the conduct of business in the executive branch.

Originally, these directives were used primarily as administrative tools; however, they have increasingly taken on a lawmaking role and have set policy. For an explanation and review of presidential directives, see the CRS Report Presidential Directives: Background and Overview . There are several types of presidential directives. The main ones are:

• Executive Orders (E.O.)
  

  Executive Orders may be administrative (establishing new offices within the executive branch) or policy-setting (President Roosevelt's executive order requiring the internment of American citizens of Japanese ancestry during World War II). Almost all current executive orders have the force of law. Executive orders beginning in 1862 are numbered, while orders issued between 1789 and 1862 are unnumbered.

• Proclamations (Proc.)
  

  Proclamations can have significant legal force and effect (declaring emergency situations or invoking the President's constitutional powers as commander-in-chief) or be more celebratory in nature (President Washington's 1789 proclamation declaring Thanksgiving a national holiday).

• Other types of presidential directives
  
  
  • presidential letters designating individuals to hold specified positions in the government
  • Homeland Security Presidential Directives (HSPDs) - presidential decisions about homeland security policies
  • letters on tariffs and international trade
  • military orders
  • national security instruments - not required to be published, generally highly classified, only available after a number of years

A 1935 act of Congress required the publication of most presidential orders and proclamations in the Federal Register and these cumulate annually in the Code of Federal Regulations Title 3. Wellesley has presidential orders and proclamations in various locations. Use the following table to find what you need.