The American Presidency Project

The Public Papers of the Presidents
The American Presidency Project is the only online resource that has consolidated, coded, and organized into a single searchable database:
•The Messages and Papers of the Presidents: Washington - Taft (1789-1913)
•The Public Papers of the Presidents:
Hoover to Bush (1929-1993)
•The Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents:
Clinton - G.W. Bush (1993-2008)

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A research note by
Brandon Rottinghaus
University of Houston

A presidential proclamation is "an instrument that states a condition, declares a law and requires obedience, recognizes an event or triggers the implementation of a law (by recognizing that the circumstances in law have been realized)" (Cooper 2002, 116). In short, presidents "define" situations or conditions on situations that become legal or economic truth. These orders carry the same force of law as executive orders – the difference between the two is that executive orders are aimed at...

- complete research note and proclamations archive

The Ten Most Viewed Documents
(since 7/1/08)

#1	George Bush
The President’s News Conference

#2	Ronald Reagan
Remarks in New York City Before the United Nations General Assembly Special Session Devoted to Disarmament

#3	John F. Kennedy
Inaugural Address

#4	Democratic Party Platforms
Democratic Party Platform of 2004

#5	John F. Kennedy
Executive Order 11110 - Amendment of Executive Order No. 10289 as Amended, Relating to the Performance of Certain Functions Affecting the Department of the Treasury

#6	Republican Party Platforms
Republican Party Platform of 2004

#7	George Bush
Executive Order 12803 - Infrastructure Privatization

#8	John F. Kennedy
Address of Senator John F. Kennedy Accepting the Democratic Party Nomination for the Presidency of the United States - Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles

#9	Franklin D. Roosevelt
State of the Union Message to Congress

#10	Herbert Hoover
Statement About Signing the Federal Home Loan Bank Act.

Recent Publications with CQ Press

The Presidency A to Z, 4th Edition
The Presidency A to Z is an invaluable tool for understanding the presidency, both historically and today and for appraising how it and the executive branch have responded to the challenges facing the nation. It provides readers with quick information and in-depth background on the presidency through a comprehensive encyclopedia of over 300 easy-to-read entries.
- CQ Press

State of the Union: Presidential Rhetoric from Woodrow Wilson to George W. Bush
with an introduction by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley is the first comprehensive reference volume published in over four decades devoted to the president's Annual Message to Congress.
- CQ Press

The American Presidency Project (americanpresidency.org), was established in 1999 as a collaboration between John Woolley and Gerhard Peters at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Our archives contain 77,823 documents related to the study of the Presidency.

Remarks and an Exchange With Reporters in Kennebunkport, Maine, on the Attempted Coup in the Soviet Union
August 19, 1991

The President. Let me make a few comments about these momentous and stunning events. While we're still watching the situation unfold, and it still is unfolding, all is not clear. It seems clearer all the time that, contrary to official statements out of Moscow, that this move was extra-constitutional, outside of the constitutional provisions for governmental change.

Clearly, it's a disturbing d ...read full document

Date	McCain	Obama
8/18	44%	45%
8/17	43%	46%
8/16	45%	45%
8/15	44%	45%
8/14	44%	44%
8/13	43%	46%
8/12	42%	48%
Gallup daily tracking poll of registered voters
see complete data

Days Before/After the First Day of Convention
Vice-Presidential Nominees Were Selected

	Democratic			Republican
	Announced	Nominee	# Days	Announced	Nominee	# Days
2008	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
2004	July 6	Edwards	20	incumbent	Cheney	n/a
2000	August 8	Lieberman	6	July 25	Cheney	6
1996	incumbent	Gore	n/a	August 11	Kemp	1
1992	July 9	Gore	4	incumbent	Quayle	n/a
1988	July 13	Bentsen	5	August 17	Quayle	-2
1984	July 12	Ferraro	4	incumbent	Bush	n/a
1980	incumbent	Mondale	n/a	July 17	Bush	-3
1976	July 15	Mondale	-3	August 19	Dole	-3
1972	July 13	Eagleton*	-3	incumbent	Agnew	n/a
1968	August 29	Muskie	-3	August 8	Agnew	-3
* Eagleton withdrew on 8/1/72 and was replaced by Sargent Shriver
see complete data

2008 Presidential Election Candidate Remarks

• Barack Obama
• Hillary Clinton
• John Edwards
• see all

• John McCain
• Mike Huckabee
• Mitt Romney
• see all

Victory Speech	Obama

Concessions	Clinton
	Edwards
	Richardson
	Dodd

Victory Speech	McCain

Concessions	Huckabee
	Romney

Primary Election Night Remarks

Iowa	Obama	Clinton	Edwards	McCain	Huckabee	Romney
New Hampshire	Obama	Clinton	Edwards	McCain	Huckabee	Romney
Michigan				McCain	Huckabee	Romney
South Carolina	Obama	Clinton	Edwards	McCain	Huckabee
Florida		Clinton		McCain	Huckabee	Romney
"Super Tuesday"	Obama	Clinton		McCain	Huckabee	Romney
MD, VA & DC	Obama	Clinton		McCain	Huckabee
Wisconsin	Obama	Clinton		McCain
OH, RI, TX & VT	Obama	Clinton		McCain	Huckabee
Pennsylvania	Obama	Clinton
Indiana & N. Carolina	Obama	Clinton
West Virginia		Clinton
Kentucky & Oregon	Obama	Clinton
Puerto Rico		Clinton
Montana & S. Dakota	Obama	Clinton

The Document Archive Contains 77,823 Records
• Executive Orders	4043	• State of the Union Addresses	92
• Proclamations	5175	• State of the Union Messages	135
• Press Conferences	1903	• Inaugural Addresses	58
• Saturday Radio Addresses	1160	• Addresses to Congress (non-SOU)	42
• Fireside Chats (FDR)	27	• Addresses to Nation	237
• Veto Messages	1139	• Addresses to the United Nations	39
• Radio & TV Correspondents Dinners	31	• Addresses to Foreign Legislatures	65
• Party Convention Addresses	34	• College Commencement Addresses	138

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