The Executive Office of the President (EOP) assists the President in supervising the executive branch. It was created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in Reorganization Act No. 1, submitted to Congress in 1939. At various times the EOP has included agencies to improve the management and administration of the executive departments, such as the Council on Personnel Administration in the 1940s; economic advisory boards, such as the International Economic Policy Board of the 1970s; agencies for national security, such as the Board of Consultants on Foreign Intelligence Activities in the 1950s; and agencies for emergency preparedness, such as the Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization in the 1960s.
Sometimes the EOP has contained agencies that should have belonged in the departments but have been given “Presidential status” to signal their importance to the administration. Such agencies include the Disarmament Agency in the 1950s, the Office of Economic Opportunity (which administered antipoverty programs) in the 1960s, and the Office of Drug Abuse Policy in the 1970s.
In 1992 the offices within the EOP had a total of 2,000 employees and spent $200 million each year. These offices included the White House Office, which provides the President with assistance in communicating with Congress, special interest groups, and the general public; the Office of Management and Budget, which prepares the Budget of the United States, oversees departmental requests for legislation from Congress, assists the President with veto messages, and ensures that new government regulations are in accordance with Presidential priorities; the Council of Economic Advisers, which prepares the economic report of the President and gives advice on economic policy; the National Security Council, which provides advice to the President on foreign policy and military matters; the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, which negotiates trade policies with other nations; the Council on Environmental Quality, which develops regulatory policies for clean air and water; the Office of Science and Technology Policy, which recommends new government programs in science; the Office of Policy Development, which provides long-range studies for new domestic legislation; the Office of the Vice President, which assists the incumbent with speeches and scheduling of activities; and the Office of Administration, which provides management support for the other agencies.
See also Council of Economic Advisers; Council on Environmental Quality; Executive Office Buildings; National Security Council; Office of Administration; Office of Management and Budget; Office of Science and Technology Policy; Office of U.S. Trade Representative; Vice President; White House Office
Sources
- John P. Burke, The Institutional Presidency (Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992).
- Thomas Cronin, ed., The Presidential Advisory System (New York: Harper & Row, 1969).
- Richard Johnson, Managing the White House (New York: Harper & Row, 1974).
- Richard Nathan, The Administrative Presidency (New York: Wiley, 1986)
