George Mason University

The American Presidency Project

The American Presidency Project is a comprehensive online resource on the U.S. presidency with more than 85,000 documents to date, covering all U.S. presidencies.

The American Presidency Project was started in 1999 by John Woolley and Gerhard Peters of the University of California – Santa Barbara to study the Presidency.

The database is organized around four major interrelated archives:

Data, Documents, Elections, and Media

The Data Archive contains a wide rage of statistical information on the presidency including Relations with the Congress, Popularity, Public Appearances, Growth of the Executive Branch, Presidential Selection, State of the Union and Inaugural Address Charts, and Presidential Disability.

The Documents Archive contains a searchable archive of over 85,000 documents related to the American presidency. Included in the archives are:

Executive Orders

4719

State of the Union Addresses

92

Proclamations

5226

State of the Union Messages

135

Press Conferences

1905

Inaugural Addresses

58

Saturday Radio Addresses

1178

Addresses to Congress (non-SOU)

42

Fireside Chats (FDR)

27

Addresses to Nation

238

Veto Messages

1139

Addresses to the United Nations

40

Radio & TV Correspondents Dinners

31

Addresses to Foreign Legislatures

65

Party Convention Addresses

36

College Commencement Addresses

138

The Elections Archives provides information on presidential elections from 1789 to 2008. Graphical charts show which states were blue or red in each election. Other information includes party platforms, debates, and convention speeches.

In the Media center you can listen to numerous speeches, radio addresses, and fireside chats given by Presidents from Herbert Hoover to George W. Bush.

Additionally, the database provides links to Presidential Libraries and the National Archives Presidential Materials.

Learn about further resources available through the GMU Libraries Resource Spotlight archive.