CRS-6
require the internment of American citizens of Japanese ancestry who were living in certain designated Pacific coast defense areas.
The issuance of executive orders by Presidents followed not only the practice of state governors, but also relied upon constitutional authority, such as the Commander-in-Chief role and the faithful execution of the laws clause, and statutory law. Under the new federal government, the Department of State was responsible for preserving presidential executive orders. Examples of early presidential directives having the characteristics of executive orders may be found in Richardson's A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents. In 1907, the Department of State began to assign identification numbers to both executive orders and proclamations, making a determined, but not totally successful, effort to include previously issued instruments of both types in this accounting.[1] The numbering of executive orders began with an October 20, 1862, instrument signed by President Lincoln. The Federal Register Act of 1935 effectively required that both executive orders and proclamations be published in the Register.[2] The first executive order so published was E.O. 7316 of March 13, 1936, concerning the enlargement of the Cape Romain migratory bird refuge in South Carolina. Beginning with this instrument, all subsequent presidential executive orders have been reproduced in CFR Title 3 compilations. Regulations governing the preparation, presentation, filing, and publication of executive orders and proclamations are prescribed in E.O. 11030, as amended.
General Licenses
Indications are that only one presidential general license, as such, was published in the Federal Register and subsequently included in a CFR Title 3 compilation. Issued December 13, 1941, shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and congressional declarations of war on Japan and Germany,[3] the general license, signed by President Roosevelt, authorized the conduct of certain export transactions otherwise prohibited during wartime by the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917, as amended. It also delegated to the Secretary of the Treasury responsibility to regulate such transactions.[4] An emergency action taken to assist the prosecution of the war, the general license facilitated the shipment of material to U.S. allies for that effort. No directives of this designation have appeared in subsequent CFR Title 3 compilations.
