Government 202: The American Presidency

Professor: Janet Martin
Librarian: Ginny Hopcroft
Spring 2009

White House

   
Photo from The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden

Primary Sources for the Presidency

Websites

Presidential Libraries
http://www.archives.gov/presidential-libraries/

The White House
http://www.whitehouse.gov/

President of the United States (Links from Univ. of Michigan)
http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/fedprs.html

GPO Access Executive Branch Resources
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/executive.html

Government Documents

Budget of the United States Government.
Govt Ref PrEx 2.8: 1965-present (print); Online, 1963-
The President's budget proposal for the next fiscal
year.

Codification of Presidential Proclamations and Executive Orders
Govt Ref AE 2.113 1945-1989 (print); Online, 1945-1989
A codification (grouping by subject) and index of executive orders from 1945-1989.

Federal Register (online) and Code of Federal Regulations (print and online)
Govt Ref AE 2.106
The Federal Register reports executive orders and proposed executive agency regulations. The CFR codifies and publishes the final regulations. Title 3 of the CFR is an annual print compilation of Executive Orders. Executive Orders, 1998-present are on the web in GPO Access at http://www.gpoaccess.gov/executive.html.

Messages and Papers of the Presidents (George Washington to Woodrow Wilson)
Main Ref  J81 . B96G

The Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt
Main Libr  E806 .R749

Public Papers of the Presidents (Herbert Hoover to present)
Govt Ref AE 2.114/Govt Doc AE 2.114 ; Online, 1991 forward
Each president's public speeches, proclamations and sometimes executive orders are collected and published together in an annual volume, arranged chronologically.

United States Congressional Serial Set (online)
Govt Doc Y 1.1/2 numbered serially 1789-1999 (print)
Govt Micro Y 1.1/2 - Y 1.1/8 (microfiche)
The Serial Set is primarily comprised of congressional reports on legislation, but has Presidential messages, documents and treaties as well. For the 19th century many executive agency reports are included--reports on expeditions, fisheries, commerce, defense, etc. Bowdoin's paper Serial Set starts with the years of the early republic, and with a few gaps continues to the present. The online Serial Set, when complete, will provide access to 1980.

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents 1993-
http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/nara003.html

Academic Search Premier 1995-
Each week the Government Printing Office publishes the President's public speeches, press conferences, proclamations, etc. as the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, and they are included in this database.These are later compiled in the volumes of the Public Papers of the Presidents.

Historical Presidential Information

The American Presidency Project
An amazing archive-- party platforms beginning in 1840, inaugural addresses since 1789, public papers since 1929, signing statements, state of the union addresses and much more.

New York Times Archive, 1851-2004
Full image of the New York Times.

America’s Historical Newspapers, 1690-1922
Full text of many newspapers of this era.

American Broadsides and Ephemera
Digitized images of campaign poster and handbills, signs, poems, etc.

American Memory
Digitized images of photographs, pictures, and texts from the Library of Congress.

Messages and Papers of the Presidents (George Washington to Woodrow Wilson)
Main Ref J81 . B96G

The Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt
Main Libr  E806 .R749

Public Papers of the Presidents (Herbert Hoover to present)
Govt Ref AE 2.114/Govt Doc AE 2.114
Each president's speeches, proclamations and addresses are collected and published in an annual volume, arranged chronologically.

Political Science Journals

To locate articles in the journals below, use the indexes in the following section. To determine whether Bowdoin Library owns or provides online access to a journal, go to the Journals tab on the Library homepage and enter the journal name.

  • Annals (American Academy of Political and Social Sciences)
  • American Journal of Political Science
  • American Political Science Review
  • American Politics Quarterly
  • Journal of Politics
  • Legislative Studies Quarterly
  • Political Science Quarterly
  • Polity
  • Presidential Studies Quarterly
  • Public Administration Review
  • Public Opinion Quarterly
  • Social Science Quarterly
  • Western Political Quarterly or Political
  • Research Quarterly
  • Women and Politics
  • Vital Speeches of the Day

Indexes and Databases

Academic Search Premier
Academic Search Premier indexes English language periodicals in the social sciences, humanities, and science, as well as general interest magazines and several important American newspapers. Date coverage varies between periodicals some as far back as 1980; about 60% of the articles are in full text.

LexisNexis Academic
LexisNexis Academic is a full-text web database of news and legal information. It provides access to both current news and up to 20 years of retrospective news, both domestic and international.

America History and Life
This source indexes scholarly articles and books about the history of the United States and Canada published throughout the world. It is a subject index which provides citations and abstracts for the works indexed.


Catalog of Government Publications (online)
Govt Index (print)
To access Bowdoin's government publications, first check the Library Catalog. If you do not find your material there, check the Catalog of Government Publications for 1976 to present. For 1890 to 1976 please see the print Monthly Catalog of Government Documents. When you identify a useful government document in any index or database, please make note of the "Sudocs" number for locating the paper document in the Government Documents collection.

CIS Annual (Print)
Govt Index KF49 .C62 1970-
Print Index to Congressional publications in the Government Documents collection.

Public Affairs Information Service (PAIS) (online)
Main Per Index (print)
PAIS indexes "publications on all subjects that bear on contemporary public issues and the making and evaluation of public policy, irrespective of source or traditional disciplinary boundaries." Sources may be periodical articles, books, government documents or the reports of public and private organizations in the U.S. and internationally. Coverage for the electronic version begins with 1972 and continues to the present. The print version covers 1915 to 1985.

Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000
A growing collection of primary source documents relating to women.

Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
1975-present
This service indexes scholarly journals of U.S. and international political science. It is comprised of the merged backfiles of Political Science Abstracts and ABC Pol Sci with new publications indexed monthly. Publication coverage goes back to 1975. Selected scholarly web sites may be among the retrieved sources.

Reference Sources


Most of the publications listed below are located in the Reference Collection on the first floor of the library.

Congressional Quarterly Almanac 1945-Present
Govt Index JK 1.C66

Congressional Quarterly's Guide to the Presidency
Main Ref JK 516 C57 1989

The American Presidency: A Bibliography.
Main Ref Z 1249 P7 M357 1987

American Presidents: A Bibliography.
Main Ref Z 1249 P7 M36 1987

Biographical Directory of the United States Executive Branch, 1774-1977.
Main Ref E 176 B576

The Presidency: a Research Guide
Main Ref Z 1249 P7 G63 1985

The Presidency and Women: Promise, Performance and Illusion/ Janet Martin
Main Libr  JK721 .M34 2003

The Almanac of American Politics
Main Ref JK 1012 A44

America at the Polls 2: the Vote for President, 1968-1984
Main Ref JK 524 S22 1988

America Votes: a Handbook of Contemporary American Election Statistics.
1956- Annual.
Main Ref JK 1967 A8

Facts on File World News Digest (online)

The New York Times Archive, 1851-2003 (online)

Presidential Elections Since 1789
Main Ref JK 524 C66

The Pursuit of the White House: A Handbook of Presidential Election Statistics and
History

Main Ref JK 524 T44 1987

Polling the Nations (online)
"A compilation of questions and responses from more than 12,000 national, state, local and special surveys, conducted by 700 polling organizations in the United States and 70 other countries from 1986 through the present."

American Public Opinion Index
Main Ref HM 261 A463-

The Gallup Poll: Public Opinion.
Main Ref HM 90 P8 G35

AllPolitics
http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/

Federal Election Commission
http://www.fec.gov

Opensecrets.org
http://www.opensecrets.org/home/index.asp

Politics1

http://www.politics1.com