# "Presidential Pardon"/"Pres. Order"/"Pres. Directive": how many distinct document types are there?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-pardon-pres-order-pres-directive-how-many-distinct-document-types-are-there/787484>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 26, 2017, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-pardon-pres-order-pres-directive-how-many-distinct-document-types-are-there/787484 "2017-05-26T15:51:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2017, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-pardon-pres-order-pres-directive-how-many-distinct-document-types-are-there/787484/1 "2017-05-26T15:51:05Z")

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Query is about the legal force and legal definition of stuff that is still (quaintly) signed and delivered with due aplomb somewhere to someone, sometimes for photo ops in the White House, many times not, in secret or military decisions and orders (in the normal use of the word) that we’re told about that “come from the President.”

Are there are a set number and type of these?

Nixon’s resignation letter, for example, is _sui generis_, but other “types of decisions” are classifiable, and perhaps carry important distinctions and procedures.

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**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2017, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-pardon-pres-order-pres-directive-how-many-distinct-document-types-are-there/787484/2 "2017-05-26T20:04:43Z")

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The President and his staff can name his written orders whatever he wishes. There are all kinds of different types, and they have changed over time. Executive Orders are the best-known modern ones (the subject of a new column by the Perfect Master: [How powerful are presidential executive orders? - The Straight Dope](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/3342/how-powerful-are-presidential-executive-orders)). As Cecil notes, many of what are called EOs today were called something else at the time.

Some other examples:

[http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=69787](http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=69787)

> **[Emancipation Proclamation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emancipation_Proclamation)**
>
> The Emancipation Proclamation, officially Proclamation 95, was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the Civil War. The Proclamation changed the legal status of more than 3.5 million enslaved African Americans in the secessionist Confederate states from enslaved to free. As soon as slaves escaped the control of their enslavers, either by fleeing to Union lines or through the advance of federal troops, the

[https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/virtuallibrary/documents/nationalsecuritydecisionmemoranda.php](https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/virtuallibrary/documents/nationalsecuritydecisionmemoranda.php)  
See the third paragraph under “Reductions in NSC influence and staff” here: [United States National Security Council - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_United_States_National_Security_Council_1977%E2%80%9381)  
[NSDD - National Security Decision Directives - Reagan Administration](https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/nsdd/)