About This Product
HeinOnline is pleased to announce the release of a brand new print and online product. Reports of U.S. Presidential Commissions and Other Advisory Bodies by Louis W. (Bill) Bookheim is a unique resource containing the most current and extensive listing of publications created by presidential advisory bodies.
United States presidents have historically created such advisory groups—also called committees, commissions, boards, blue ribbon panels, or task forces—to advise them on particular problems or issues. In the past, these commissions have explained catastrophes such as the Gulf oil spill, Challenger Space Shuttle accident, Pearl Harbor, the AIDS epidemic, and more.
This database will aid researchers interested in United States history, political science, and law in discovering and analyzing policies of U.S. Presidents. Presidential commission reports help determine administrative and political priorities of various administrations, as well as provide information on the development of contemporary laws and legislative history.
Both the print and online versions are indexed by commission/advisory body name, report title, report subject, and presidential administration. Whenever possible, links to the full text of reports are provided. Citations to published government documents and OCLC numbers are provided for publications when applicable. To maintain currency, the online portion will be updated at least twice annually.
While the project began as an index designed to help librarians locate presidential advisory commission reports by group name and OCLC location, the final iteration is a bibliographic powerhouse with nearly 6,000 entries. More than 1,200 of these entries link to the full text of the reports. Special effort was made to obtain the reports from the most well-known presidential commissions, including:
- Commission to Investigate and Report the Facts Relating to the Attack made by Japanese Armed Forces upon Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941 (Roberts Commission)
- President’s Committee on Civil Rights
- President’s Commission on the Status of Women
- President’s Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy (Warren Commission)
- President’s Commission on Campus Unrest
- President’s Special Review Board (Iran Contra, Tower Commission)
- Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS
- Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction (Iraq Intelligence Commission)
- National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9/11 Commission)
- National Commission on the BP Deepwater
- National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement (Wickersham Commission)
- Commission on the Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government, 1947-1949 and 1953-1955 (Hoover Commission)
Commission reports cover hundreds of subjects, including AIDS, bioethics, chemical warfare, immigration, nuclear weapons, and many more.
Using the Online Database
Search the Commission Reports Index using the search fields located on the database homepage. Available search fields include Keywords, President, Commission Subject, Commission/Author, and Report Title. The main search bar, located at the top of the page, will search both the index and all available full text reports. The Commission Reports Index can also be browsed by President, Commission Name, Commission Subject, and Report Title.
For example, to find presidential commission reports on the Challenger Space Shuttle accident, enter Challenger in a keyword field. The result displayed includes the five-volume report, its report number, and OCLC information. Clicking any volume’s hyperlink will produce the full text of that volume.
Additional Content
This database also contains a wealth of related materials including congressional hearings, books, and scholarly articles.
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