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 CRS-14 authority only to the end of 1984, when it automatically expired. Although Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and William Clinton did not request the reestablishment of reorganization plan authority, President George W. Bush indicated an interest in pursuing its restoration in his FY2003 budget message.

Proclamations

Proclamations are also one of the oldest types of presidential directive, the earliest appearing in October 1789, when President Washington declared Thursday, November 26, to be “a day of public thanksgiving.” Like most proclamations, it affected primarily the activities and interests of private individuals and, like many proclamations, it was at best hortative. However, some proclamations, declaring emergency situations and invoking the President’s constitutional authority as Commander-in-Chief or powers statutorily delegated to him by Congress to respond to exigencies, were of a more profound character. An early proclamation, promulgated by President Washington on August 7, 1794, exemplified this latter use of such instruments. Responding to rebellious activities in western Pennsylvania and Virginia in protest of a federal excise tax on whiskey, the President called forth the militia and personally took command. This was done pursuant to statutory arrangements.

The issuance of proclamations by the President followed a tradition established by British monarchs and practiced by royal governors in the North American colonies and by their elected successors after the Revolution. Under the new federal government, the Department of State was responsible for preserving presidential proclamations. Numerous examples of the early proclamations may be found in Richardson’s A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents. In 1907, the Department of State began to assign identification numbers to both proclamations and executive orders, making a determined, but not totally successful, effort to include previously issued instruments of both types in this accounting. The Federal Register Act of 1935 effectively required that both proclamations and executive orders be published in the Register. The first proclamation so published was Proc. 2161 of March 19, 1936, concerning contributions to the American Red Cross for flood relief. Beginning with this instrument, all subsequent presidential proclamations have been reproduced in CFR Title 3 compilations. For the past 20 years, proclamations have been largely hortative, often being used to declare commemorative occasions. Regulations governing the preparation, presentation, filing, and publication of proclamations and executive orders are prescribed in E.O. 11030, as amended.