#5Things: ‘Going big’ with executive actions

As the country waits for President Obama’s major announcement tonight on his executive orders on immigration, we take a look back on five executive order that have affected the United States:

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1. Let’s start with the basics: Herbert Hoover in 1931 issued a style guide of sorts on form, style, and safeguarding executive orders.
2. Hoover’s successor FDR and the New Deal: in 1933, it created the Works Progress Administration, the largest New Deal program, that would ultimately help three million jobless men.
3. Dwight Eisenhower in 1957 made history happen with his executive order to de-segregate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, forever, putting the brave “Little Rock Nine” into the history books.
4. President Kennedy and affirmative action: it was issued by an executive order in 1961 to make sure all those who apply to be government contractors are treated equally, no matter what their race, creed, or color may be.
5. A double-feature: Presidents George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan both used their executive authority to change immigration policy and ultimately legalize immigrants. It is a comparison that supporters of President Obama love to point out, but critics say were taken only after there was legislation on the issue in Congress.