The President may take many types of action that result in different categories of documents. Since taking office, we have seen President Trump issue Executive Orders, Presidential Memoranda, and Proclamations. But, how are they different?

There is an argument that all actions taken by the President are of equal importance and should all be simply Executive Orders. The intended audience of the action and the type of action are often the defining characteristics of a given category of Presidential action. Executive Orders are directed internally to Federal agencies and order specific action with regard to existing laws.  A Presidential Memorandum is also directed internally to federal agencies to provide guidance on agency policies. Some would argue that a Presidential Memorandum is simply an Executive Order by another name (See “By Order of the President” – citation below.)

Proclamations are externally focused announcements by the President, such as the announcement of a day of national recognition such as February as American Heart Month. Many Proclamations of this nature are made by sitting Presidents, but a Proclamation can be much more serious. President Harry Truman’s first Proclamation was to announce the death of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

The above categories do not represent the full spectrum of actions available to the President. National Security Directives, made to ensure the safety of the country, may not be public due to security concerns and thus are very difficult to discover. Executive Agreements allow the President to make a treaty-like agreement, outside of the normal Congressional avenue. Presidential Signing Statements are written comments made by the President at the time a bill is signed into law. Signing Statements are becoming increasingly important because they are now being used to provide specific interpretations of the new law and direct how it should be applied.

Presidential documents are available on the White House  website. [Note: this is not an official publication and recent Executive Orders posted on this website did not contain the correct text.] The official source of Presidential actions, the Compilation of Presidential Documents, can be found on the Government Printing Office’s website.

For more information on Executive Orders, see:

• Phillip J. Cooper, By Order of the President: The Use & Abuse of Executive Direct Action (2d ed. 2014).
• William G. Howell, Power Without Persuasion : The Politics of Direct Presidential Action (2003).
• Kenneth R. Mayer, With the Stroke of a Pen: Executive Orders and Presidential Power (2001).