Presidential Document Sources

The President of the United States produces a large amount of papers and public documents. Finding these documents can sometimes be difficult. They are collected by organizations as varied as the National Archives, the Office of the Federal Register, and various presidential libraries.

A great place to start when looking for these documents is The American Presidency Project. This University of California hosted site has a wealth of presidential documents. The site archives includes the following collections:

• Messages and Papers of the Presidents(Washington 1789 through Taft 1913)
• Public Papers of the Presidents(Hoover 1929-1933; Truman through G.W. Bush 1945-2007; & Obama 2009-2011)
• Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt(F. Roosevelt 1933-1945)
• Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents(Carter 1977 through G.W. Bush 2009)
• Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents(Obama 2009-2016)
• Annual Messages to Congress on the State of the Union(Washington 1790 - Obama 2016)
• Inaugural Addresses(Washington 1789 - Obama 2013)
• Saturday Addresses (Radio from Reagan through G.W. Bush)(Reagan 1982 - Obama 2016)
• Fireside Chats(F. Roosevelt)
• News Conferences(Hoover 1929 - Obama 2015)
• Executive Orders(J.Q. Adams 1826 - Obama 2016)
• Proclamations(Washington 1789 - Obama 2016)
• Presidential Signing Statements(Hoover 1929 - Obama 2015)
• The Economic Report of the President(Truman 1947 - Obama 2015)
• Statements of Administration Policy(Clinton 1997 - Obama 2016) - (105th-114th Congress)
• Presidential Nomination Acceptance Addresses (1928-2012)
• Presidential Candidates Debates (1960-2016)
• Documents Related to Presidential Elections
  • 1960 Election
  • 1996 Election
  • 2004 Election
  • 2008 Election
  • 2012 Election
  • 2016 Election
• Documents Related to the 2000 Election Dispute
• Documents Related to Presidential Transitions
  • 2009 Presidential Transition
    (G.W. Bush - Obama)
  • 2001 Presidential Transition
    (Clinton - G.W. Bush)
• National Political Party Platforms
  (of parties receiving electoral votes, 1840 - 2012)

If you are interested in the more ephemeral information contained in the presidential web page you may be interested in the following pages:

• http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/ - A archived copy of the G.W. Bush Web Page as it existed on the last day of his presidency.
• https://web.archive.org/web/20000303223458/http://www.whitehouse.gov/ - Bill Clinton's web page from March 3, 2000. The Internet Archive is a fantastic resource for old websites.