Getting to Know the President

February 13, 2020

Newly-elected Presidents have an infinite list of tasks he or she must complete once sworn in by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court every four years, usually on a cold and blustery mid-January day in Washington D.C.

Fortunately there are many experienced people with working knowledge of the programs, forms of legislation, and global military and economic intelligence who are ready to serve as subject “experts.”

The critical responsibility of bringing a newly-elected (or even second-term) President up to speed falls on the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

In Getting to Know the President, David Robarge, Chief Historian of the CIA, notes that since 1952, the CIA, and now the Intelligence Community as a whole, has provided presidential candidates and presidents-elect with intelligence briefings during their campaigns and transitions. These briefings have helped presidents be as well informed as possible on international developments beginning on the day they take office.

Robarge gives credit to author John Helgerson for this updated third edition of Getting to Know the President, for the singular contribution he makes to the literature of intelligence by describing this important process of information sharing between the Intelligence Community (IC) and the Chief Executive.

You’re probably not contemplating your own run at the Presidency (but who knows). However, the time investment engaging in this intense learning process is worth considering, and makes for fascinating reading in its own right.

Visit the Government Publishing Office Online Bookstore to pick up your copy, and get to know what it’s really like to sit behind the large mahogany desk square in the middle of the Oval Office.

HOW DO I OBTAIN THIS RESOURCE?

Sign up to receive promotional bulletin emails from the US Government Online Bookstore.

Shop Online Anytime: You can buy a vast majority of eBooks or print publications —with FREE Standard Shipping worldwide— from the U.S. Government Online Bookstore at https://bookstore.gpo.gov.

Visit our Retail Store: To buy or order a copy of any print editions from this collection at GPO’s retail bookstore at 710 North Capitol Street NW, Washington, DC 20401, open Monday–Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., except Federal holidays, Call (202) 512-0132 for information or to arrange in-store pick-up(s).

Order by Phone or Email: Call our Custoer Contact Center Monday through Friday, 8 am to 4:30 pm Eastern (except US Federal holidays). From US and Canada, call toll-free 1.866.512.1800. DC or International customers call +1.202.512.1800.  Email orders to ContactCenter@gpo.gov

Find more than a million official Federal Government publications from all three branches at www.govinfo.gov.

About the author: Blogger contributor Ed Kessler is a Promotions Specialist in GPO’s Publication and Information Sales program office.

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Posted by Trudy Hawkins

Presidents’ Day Publications

February 15, 2019

Presidents’ Day is an American holiday celebrated on the third Monday in February. This year it will take place on February 18. The holiday was initially established in 1885 to recognize President George Washington. Now, it serves as a day to remember and celebrate all U.S. presidents, both past and present. Some states require that schools teach children about the U.S. presidents in the days leading up to Presidents’ Day.

For those of us who no longer go to school, it’s up to us to take the time this Presidents’ Day to learn about the presidents and remember all their great achievements. The Public Papers of the Presidents series, produced by the Office of the Federal Register within National Archives and Records Administration, are a great way to do this. The Public Papers historical collection of primary source documents include public messages, statements, and speeches of the Presidents. They can be purchased online here.

Appreciate the “Father of our Country,” George Washington, with Washington’s Farewell Address to the People of the United States. His Farewell address to Congress and the American people began:

Friends, and Fellow-Citizens: The period for a new election of a Citizen, to Administer the Executive government of the United States, being not far distant, and the time actually arrived, when your thoughts must be employed in designating the person, who is to be cloathed with that important trust, it appears to me proper, especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression of the public voice, that I should now apprise you of the resolution I have formed, to decline being considered among the number of those, out of whom a choice is to be made.

As one of the founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson made significant achievements for our country, including almost doubling our nation’s territory through the Louisiana Purchase. Learn more about Jefferson in Jefferson Memorial: Interpretive Guide to Thomas Jefferson Memorial. This handbook from the National Park Service describes the Jefferson Memorial and includes a biography of Thomas Jefferson.

It wouldn’t be Presidents’ Day without a mention of Honest Abe, one of our country’s most highly regarded presidents. Check out Abraham Lincoln’s Journey to Greatness from the National Park Service. This handbook presents a description and history of the Lincoln Memorial and a biography of the man it commemorates.

Interested in what it’s like to be in an intelligence meeting with the president? Getting To Know the President by John Helgerson describes the critical process of information sharing between the Intelligence Community (IC) and the Chief Executive, the President of the United States, starting as a presidential candidate. Since 1952, the CIA, and now the Intelligence Community as a whole, has provided presidential candidates and presidents-elect with intelligence briefings during their campaigns and transitions. These briefings have helped presidents be as well informed as possible on international developments from the day they take office.

First published in 1996 and now revised and updated to include accounts of intelligence support to candidates and presidents-elect in the three elections between then and 2004, Helgerson’s study provides unique insights into the mechanics and content of the briefings, the interaction of the participants, and the briefings’ effect on the relationships presidents have had with their intelligence services.

Our country is lucky to have had some amazing leaders. Without their vision and dedication, our nation wouldn’t be what it is today. Happy Presidents’ Day!

The GPO Online Bookstore – Easy Access to Federal Publications

HOW DO I OBTAIN THESE RESOURCES?

Shop Online Anytime: You can buy eBooks or print publications —with FREE Standard Shipping worldwide— from the U.S. Government Online Bookstore at https://bookstore.gpo.gov.

Shop our Retail Store: Buy a copy of any print editions from this collection at GPO’s retail bookstore at 710 North Capitol Street NW, Washington, DC 20401, open Monday–Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., except Federal holidays, Call (202) 512-0132 for information or to arrange in-store pick-up.

Order by Phone: Call our Customer Contact Center Monday through Friday, 8 am to 5:30 pm Eastern (except US Federal holidays). From US and Canada, call toll-free 1.866.512.1800. DC or International customers call +1.202.512.1800.

Visit a Federal depository library: Search for U.S. Government publications in a nearby Federal depository library. You can find the records for most titles in GPO’s Catalog of U.S. Government Publications.

Find more than a million official Federal Government publications from all three branches at www.govinfo.gov.

About the author: Blogger contributor Cat Goergen is the PR Specialist in GPO’s Public Relations office.

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Posted by Trudy Hawkins

Get To Know the American Presidents

February 11, 2016
President George W. Bush, center, poses with President-elect Barack Obama, and former presidents, from left, George H.W. Bush, left, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, right, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2009, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

President’s Club (Credit AP photo from VOA website)

President’s Day is a Federal holiday honoring our presidents.  Special attention often is paid to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Let’s use this perennial day to talk about a few modern day caretakers of the Oval Office. So, turn down the volume on those shouting President’s Day TV commercials and get to know the 20th century U.S. presidents in a new way. Here are two publications available through GPO to start.

Getting to Know the President, Intelligence Briefings of Presidential Candidates, 1952-2004

041-015-00279-1The Central Intelligence Agency’s Center for the Study of Intelligence surveys the mechanics of intelligence sharing during presidential transitions. Since the mid-century, it’s been common White House practice for the Director of Central Intelligence to offer the incumbent President an intelligence briefing every morning. From that coffee klatch, the President issues orders. This daily ritual originated with Harry Truman, whose inexperience with intelligence matters moved him to mandate intelligence briefings for all presidential candidates going forward.

The content of the hush-hush President’s Daily Brief is, quite literally, the stuff of spy novels. But what this book really focuses on is the relationship between the intelligence service and each president-elect. How each commander-in-chief-in-waiting bones up on international developments influences where that knowledge is eventually positioned in national security decision making. Getting to Know the President is a dossier on the intelligence intelligentsia like no other.

Strategic Retrenchment and Renewal in the American Experience

008-000-01115-0In this U.S Army War College Strategic Studies Institute publication, five essayists confront a debate at the heart of America’s political polarization: international renewal vs. retrenchment. In other words, what is the best foreign policy approach during tough economic times? Expand long-standing diplomacy or minimize presence abroad to focus on homeland matters? In every presidency, dueling pressures of domestic unrest and international statecraft create a trade-off dilemma.

The authors capably analyze this debate over the course of the Hoover, Nixon, and Reagan presidencies. There’s a lot of context to take note of: historical, political, economic, philosophical. Each president made strategic policy choices in light of unique controversies and commitments. And each concocted their own brew of renewal and retrenchment.  To this day, a President has yet to successfully balance out this cycle somewhere in the middle.

Hungry for more presidential knowledge? Check out these resources available on govinfo.gov and the GPO Bookstore:

Moments in History: A Tribute to President Ford

Public Papers of the Presidents

HOW DO I OBTAIN THESE RESOURCES?

You can click on the links above in the blog or through any of these methods:

Shop Online Anytime: You can buy eBooks or print publications —with FREE Standard Shipping worldwide— from the U.S. Government Online Bookstore at http://bookstore.gpo.gov.

Shop our Retail Store: Buy a copy of any print editions from this collection at GPO’s retail bookstore at 710 North Capitol Street NW, Washington, DC 20401, open Monday–Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., except Federal holidays, Call (202) 512-0132 for information or to arrange in-store pick-up.

Order by Phone: Call our Customer Contact Center Monday through Friday, 8 am to 5:30 pm Eastern (except US Federal holidays). From US and Canada, call toll-free 1.866.512.1800. DC or International customers call +1.202.512.1800.

Visit a Federal depository library: Search for U.S. Government publications in a nearby Federal depository library. You can find the records for most titles in GPO’s Catalog of U.S. Government Publications.

About the author: Our guest blogger is Chelsea Milko, Public Relations Specialist in GPO’s Public Relations Office.

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Posted by Trudy Hawkins