Washington to Obama - searchable database of presidential papers and spoken remarks

The American Presidency Project, Univ. of California, Santa Barbara ^ | 2009 | John Woolley and Gerhard Peters

[deks]

While searching for the context of a surprising and fragmented presidential quote I came across this database. It had the full quote in the full context. It appears to be extensive in documenting all kinds of written and spoken presidential remarks.

"The American Presidency Project is the only online resource that has consolidated, coded, and organized into a single searchable database: • The Messages and Papers of the Presidents: Washington - Taft (1789-1913) • The Public Papers of the Presidents: Hoover to Bush (1929-1993) • The Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents: Clinton - Obama (1993-2009) • Our archives also contain thousands of other documents such as party platforms, candidates' remarks, Statements of Administration Policy, documents released by the Office of the Press Secretary, and election debates"

[deks]

Scroll down the linked page to the search form if you would like to try it out.

The surprising quote that I saw on a FReeper homepage was this: "We can't be so fixated on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans..." --[EX]President William Jefferson Clinton, USA TODAY 11 Mar 93

The fuller context in the linked database shows Clintons views and his flawed logic concerning gun control in the time prior to the enactment of the 'assault weapons' ban:

"You know, we can't be so fixated on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans to legitimately own handguns and rifles—it's something I strongly support—we can't be so fixated on that that we are unable to think about the reality of life that millions of Americans face on streets that are unsafe, under conditions that no other nation—no other nations—has permitted to exist."

"And at some point, I still hope that the leadership of the National Rifle Association will go back to doing what it did when I was a boy and which made me want to be a lifetime member because they put out valuable information about hunting and marksmanship and safe use of guns. But just to know of the conditions we face today in a lot of our cities and other places in this country and the enormous threat to public safety is amazing."

For the full context of question and answer, scroll down to the next to last question here: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=46264&st=rifle&st1=

[La Lydia]

What about 1914 through 1929? Are Wilson’s records still sealed, for a reason I bet I can guess?

[jessduntno]

William J. Clinton Press Briefing by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and National Security Advisor Sandy Berger August 20, 1998 The White House: Office of the Press Secretary The White House:
Office of the Press Secretary The White House: Office of the Press Secretary

The Briefing Room

5:55 P.M. EDT

MR. MCCURRY: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. We're delighted to have the Secretary of State and the President's National Security here. Secretary Albright will begin with a short statement; then Mr. Berger; then they'll take your questions.

Madam Secretary.

SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Thank you, Mike.

You've heard the President's announcement and other remarks, and I want to speak briefly about the human and foreign policy aspects of today's events and what led to them.

For the past two weeks we have been living with the results of horrendous bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam: 12 Americans dead, hundreds of Kenyans and Tanzanians dead, and thousands injured. I've just returned from both sites, and they are chilling -- the tragic human face of indiscriminate terrorist murder. We cannot allow such cowardly and destructive acts to go unpunished.

Thanks to some excellent intelligence work, we were able quickly to determine the identity of those responsible for these latest attacks. We have also received solid information of new threats against U.S. citizens and embassies and installations. Yesterday, in a brazen public statement, Osama bin Laden's terrorist network informed the world that more Americans would be targeted for murder.

At the time of the latest tragedies, we said that our memory is long and our reach is far. Today, we reached into two locations on the far side of the world; today we acted to preempt future terrorist acts and disrupt the activities of those planning for them. While our actions are not perfect insurance, inaction would be an invitation to further horror. While we did not seek this confrontation, we must meet our responsibilities. Bin Laden and his network were repeatedly warned to cease their terrorist activities. In response, they declared war on the United States and struck first, and we have suffered deeply. But we will not be intimidated. We will work hard to identify future threats and thwart them. As today's strikes illustrate, there will be no sanctuary or safe haven for terrorists.

[deks]

I don’t know. They do have some papers for Wilson, Harding, and Coolidge.

[La Lydia]

I think Mrs. Wilson’s papers might be useful, beginning with October, 1919.

[SunkenCiv]

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