Presidential Documents

This collection includes speeches, letters, and other important documents from every American president from George Washington to Barack Obama.

Combining primary sources with expert commentary, this timely book probes critical moments in U.S. presidential elections in the last 20th- and early 21st-centuries, empowering readers to better understand and analyze the electoral process. Presidential Campaigns: Documents Decoded illuminates both the high stakes of a presidential campaign and the gaffes, controversies, and excesses that often influence the outcome. With a view to enabling readers to develop skills essential to political literacy, the book examines crisis points in modern presidential elections from the early 1950s through the late 2000s. Chronologically organized, the study focuses on key events pertinent to each election. It provides an original account of the event, such as a debate transcript or news report, as well as a discussion detailing how the issue emerged and why it was important. This unique and engaging approach enables students to experience the actual source material as voters might have. At the same time, it shows them how an expert views the material, facilitating a deeper understanding of the narratives every presidential campaign constructs around its candidates, its party, and its opponents.

Contents: Intro.; Admin. Orders; Certificates; Designations of Officials; Exec. Orders; General Licenses; Homeland Security Pres. Directives; Interpretations; Letters on Tariffs and Internat. Trade; Military Orders; National Security Instruments: NSC Policy Papers; National Security Action Memo; National Security Study Memo and National Security Decision Memo; Pres. Review Memo and Pres. Directives; National Security Study Memo and National Security Decision Directives; National Security Reviews and National Security Directives; Pres. Review Directives and Pres. Decision Directives; National Security Pres. Directives; Pres. Announcements; Pres. Findings; Pres. Reorg. Plans; Proclamations; Reg¿s.; Source Tools. A print on demand report.

In this lively, authoritative collection, Thomas J. McInerney presents famous and lesser-known speeches, letters, and other important documents from every U.S. president from George Washington to Barack Obama. Whether printed in full or excerpted, these history-making documents are an invaluable resource as well as a fascinating browse. Including familiar documents such as the Emancipation Proclamation, to personal correspondence such as a letter from George H.W. Bush to his children, this collection brings together the famous statements that came to represent each administration with intimate glimpses into the thought processes of various presidential leaders. Now in its second edition, Presidential Documents has been re-designed to increase its usefulness in the classroom. Part openers introduce each era of the American presidency with a concise political and historical overview, highlighting the challenges each leader faced, and placing the documents in context. Whether used as a complement to an American history survey text or as a collection of primary documents for courses on the American Presidency, Presidential Documentsprovides an engrossing look at the work of the leaders of the United States, in all their complexity.

Personal vs. Private is the first comprehensive bibliography of works written about the records, documents and papers of our nation's chief executive.

Cooper defines the different forms these powers take--executive orders, presidential memoranda, proclamations, national security directives, and signing statements--demonstrates their uses, critiques their strengths and dangers, and shows how they have changed over time. Here are Washington's "Neutrality Proclamation," Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, and the more than 1,700 executive orders issued by Woodrow Wilson in World War I. FDR issued many executive orders to implement his National Industrial Recovery Act--but also issued one that led to the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. Truman issued orders to desegregate the military and compel loyalty oaths for federal employees. Eisenhower issued numerous national security directives. JFK launched the Peace Corps and issued an order to control racial violence in Alabama. All through executive action.