This is a 42-page page PDF of the Eisenhower White House’s “enrolled bill file” on H.R. 8678, the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1959, prepared by the Executive Clerk in cooperation of the Bureau of the Budget in September 1959. The file includes:
- 3-page memo from the Budget Bureau summarizing the bill and recommending the President sign the bill.
- A 2-page signing statement recommended by Budget.
- A 1-page memo from Budget to the Executive Clerk transmitting a 2-page memo from John Bragdon that was received after the original Budget memo (above) had been sent out.
- A 5-page letter from the Secretary of Commerce recommending that the President sign the bill.
- A 1-page letter from the Acting Secretary of Agriculture recommending that the President sign the bill.
- A 2-page letter from the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers recommending that the President sign the bill.
- A 1-page letter from the Acting Secretary of the Treasury recommending that the President sign the bill.
- A 2-page memo from John Bragdon pertaining to problems with the Interstate system in urban areas.
- A 1-page memo from the Assistant Secretary of the Interior recommending that the President sign the bill.
- The final White House press release with the President’s signing statement (1 page), followed by 7 pages of earlier drafts and suggestions.
- A 12-page memo from the Bureau of Public Roads and a legislative history excerpt sent to the Executive Clerk on October 1 (9 days after the President signed the bill) relating to a legal analysis of proposed “contract controls” (administrative limitations on obligations of highway contract authority by states).