A presidential memorandum is a type of directive issued by the

president of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal gove ...

to manage and govern the actions, practices, and policies of the various departments and agencies found under the

executive branch The Executive, also referred as the Executive branch or Executive power, is the term commonly used to describe that part of government which enforces the law, and has overall responsibility for the governance of a state. In political systems ...

of the

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. It has the force of law and is usually used to delegate tasks, direct specific government agencies to do something, or to start a regulatory process. There are three types of presidential memoranda: presidential determination or presidential finding, memorandum of disapproval, and hortatory memorandum. Sometimes used interchangeably, an

executive order In the United States, an executive order is a directive by the president of the United States that manages operations of the federal government. The legal or constitutional basis for executive orders has multiple sources. Article Two of t ...

is a more prestigious form of executive action that must cite the specific

constitutional A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these prin ...

or statutory authority the president has to use it. Unlike executive orders, memoranda are not required by law to be published in the ''

Federal Register The ''Federal Register'' (FR or sometimes Fed. Reg.) is the official journal of the federal government of the United States that contains government agency rules, proposed rules, and public notices. It is published every weekday, except on fede ...

'', but publication is necessary in order to have "general applicability and legal effect". The ''Federal Register'' gives publication priority to executive orders and presidential proclamations over memoranda. Memoranda can be amended or rescinded by executive orders or another memorandum, but executive orders take legal precedence and cannot be changed by a memorandum.

History

In the past, presidential memoranda have been referred to as presidential letters.

Presidential determination

Presidential determination, or presidential finding, are memoranda required by a

statute A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. Statutes are rules made by ...

and must be issued before certain actions are taken. For example, a presidential determination on the status of a country must be released before sanctions are imposed on the country.

Memorandum of disapproval

A memorandum of disapproval is a public veto statement.

Hortatory memorandum

A hortatory memorandum is issued as a broad policy statement, but unlike a

presidential proclamation A presidential proclamation is a statement issued by a US president on an issue of public policy and is a type of presidential directive. Details A presidential proclamation is an instrument that: *states a condition, *declares a law and require ...

is directed to executive agencies.

National security presidential memorandum

In 2017, President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

changed the national security directives to national security presidential memorandum. They operate like

executive orders ''Executive Orders'' is a techno-thriller novel, written by Tom Clancy and released on July 1, 1996. It picks up immediately where the final events of '' Debt of Honor'' (1994) left off, and features now- U.S. President Jack Ryan as he tries t ...

, but are only in the area of

national security National security, or national defence, is the security and defence of a sovereign state, including its citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of government. Originally conceived as protection against military att ...

. They date back to President Harry S. Truman and have been called many different names.

References