The seal of the president of the United States is used to mark correspondence from the president of the United States to the U.S. Congress, and is also used as a symbol of the presidency itself. The central design, based on the Great Seal of the United States, is the official coat of arms of the U.S. presidency and also appears on the presidential flag.
The presidential seal developed by custom over a long period before being defined in law, and its early history remains obscure. The use of presidential seals goes back at least to 1850, and probably much earlier. The basic design of today's seal originated with Rutherford B. Hayes, who was the first to use the coat of arms on White House invitations in 1877. The precise design dates from 1945, when President Harry S. Truman specified it in . The only changes since were in 1959 and 1960, which added 49th and 50th stars to the circle following the admissions of Alaska and Hawaii as states.
Design and symbolism The current seal is defined on Executive Order 10860, made by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on February 5, 1960, and effective since July 4, 1960. It states:
The blazon (design) is essentially the same as the obverse of the Great Seal of the United States as defined in 1782, although with some extra colors specified, and a different arrangement of the stars, clouds, and glory than is typically seen in modern versions of the Great Seal. The only purely distinct element is the ring of 50 stars, representing the 50 states. Likewise, the symbolism follows that of the Great Seal: The stripes on the shield represent the 13 original states, unified under and supporting the chief. The motto (meaning "Out of many, One") alludes to the same concept. The arc of thirteen clouds, and the thirteen stars, also refer to the original 13 states. The olive branch and arrows denote the powers of peace and war.
Uses Official use
The actual seal die is only used on correspondence from the president to the United States Congress, closing the envelopes with wax seals. This has been the primary use throughout the seal's history, though isolated uses have been made for correspondence with other members of government. Documents signed by the president when representing the nation are instead sealed with the Great Seal of the United States.The Eagle and the Shield, p. 455 (see footnote 15)
Strictly speaking, the brass die used at the White House is the only actual seal of the president – other versions are technically "facsimiles". The Bureau of Engraving and Printing has other dies, used to produce such facsimiles on documents, stationery, and invitations as requested by the White House.The Eagle and the Shield, pp. 454–456 Other versions of the seal are often used as a visual symbol to represent the president, and are most often seen: on the Blue Goose lectern at presidential press conferences and campaign rallies on the sides of presidential transports Air Force One, Marine One, and the presidential limousine at the center of the ceiling in the Oval Office of the White House affixed to the Truman Balcony A.K.A. the South Portico during a State Arrival Ceremony
The presidential coat of arms (the central device on the seal, i.e., without the encircling "SEAL OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES" legend) has even wider usage. It appears: on the presidential flag
on the reverse of the Kennedy half dollar (encircled with "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" on the top and "HALF DOLLAR" on the bottom). For the United States Bicentennial, a depiction of Independence Hall was used on the reverse of the coin. The seal returned to the reverse starting in 1977. at the center of the iconic oval rug in the Oval Office of the White House (each president typically designs his own, but most rugs since President Truman have used the arms). on the helipad on the South Lawn of the White House incorporated into the Presidential Service Badge issued to U.S. military personnel. on many versions of presidential china, such as the Wilson or Reagan china, which is often used at state dinners at the White House. at the burial sites of former presidents (e.g., Wilson and Reagan).
Regulated use In general, commercial use of the seal is prohibited by 18 USC 713 of the United States Code, and further defined by Executive Orders 11916 and 11649. The United States Secret Service is authorized to use the seal in conjunction with fund raising sales for its charitable benefit fund.
Unofficial use of the seal is regulated by the White House Graphics and Calligraphy Office and monitored by the office of the White House Counsel. On September 28, 2005, Grant M. Dixton, associate counsel to George W. Bush, requested that the satirical newspaper The Onion remove the presidential seal from its website. (TimesSelection subscription required) The Graphic and Calligraphy Office will approve of the seal's use in application of official gifts, an example being its application to a silver cigarette box presented as a gift to Franklin Roosevelt.
History The early history of the president's seal remains obscure, as there is essentially no record on early usage, or when its use started. It appears that the primary use was to seal the envelopes on correspondence from the president to Congress, and the envelopes were presumably discarded even if the correspondence was kept, so there is little record remaining.The Eagle and the Shield, p. 422 The first documented seal was in 1850 (which almost certainly was not the first one), and the design used on today's seal had its origins in a coat of arms used on invitations by President Hayes in 1877. It was not defined in law until an executive order by President Truman in 1945.
Seal of the president of the Congress of the Confederation
During the period of the Congress of the Confederation, prior to the creation of the U.S. federal government and thus the presidency, the president of the Continental Congress (a mostly ceremonial position, elected to preside over meetings) had a seal. It was a small oval, with the crest from the recently adopted Great Seal (the radiant constellation of thirteen stars surrounded by clouds) in the center, with the motto E Pluribus Unum above it. Much like today's presidential seal, the primary purpose was apparently to seal envelopes on correspondence sent to the Congress. Benson Lossing (writing in 1856) claimed it was used by all presidents of the Congress after 1782, though only two examples from Thomas Mifflin are documented today: Lossing described a 1784 letter, and Commodore Byron McCandless (while doing research for the 1945 seal redesign) photographed a seal on a November 17, 1783 Mifflin letter to the Governor of Rhode Island. An 1885 article from the Daily Graphic included an original engraving of the seal supposedly from a 1784 letter; it is not known if this was just based on Lossing's version or if they had a separate impression. None of these impressions are known to still exist, and no confirmation of an order for this seal (proving an official status) has been found in Continental Congress records.The Eagle and the Shield, pp. 562–566
This seal's use apparently did not pass over to the new government in 1789.
Dorsett seal
In 1894, Palemon Howard Dorsett (a lifelong Department of Agriculture employee) turned up with a metal die very similar to the original die of the Great Seal, except that the arrows and the olive branch were switched, indicating an intentional "difference" to distinguish it from the actual Great Seal. The die had apparently been owned by George Washington, though there are no known uses of this die, and there even is no indication it could actually be used as a seal. The origins and purpose of this die remain unknown, though the authors of a 1978 book on the Great Seal speculated it was a gift to Washington and possibly an early version (or forerunner) of a presidential seal.The Eagle and the Shield, pp. 409–417 The Dorsett seal was subsequently loaned to the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association to be displayed at Washington's estate.
Early presidential seals There is little extant evidence of any seals actually used by early U.S. presidents. One possibility is a letter from 1835, sent from Paris to Andrew Jackson and then forwarded to the Department of State. The envelope has a small circular red wax seal, with the upper portion appearing to have a circle of cloud puffs similar to the Great Seal, with rays of a glory. However, the rest of the design has been obliterated, so nothing further can be determined, and no other uses of this seal have been found.The Eagle and the Shield, p. 418
The documented history begins in 1850, when a seal was made after a crude drawing submitted by Millard Fillmore. It depicted an eagle "displayed with wings inverted", i.e. with its wingtips down, holding an olive branch and three arrows in its talons. The shield is essentially the same as the Great Seal, with a blue chief and red and white stripes and the eagle facing to its right, though there were nineteen stripes and the outermost stripes were red, both unlike the Great Seal. Thirty-one stars were distributed above and around the eagle, indicating that the seal dates from after when California became the 31st state in September 1850. It was made by Edward Stabler, a farmer and postmaster in Sandy Spring, Maryland, who had earlier made seals for the Senate, House of Representatives, and several government departments.The Eagle and the Shield, pp. 418–420The Eagle and the Shield, p. 423 Stabler had also made a seal for the Vice President in 1846, and the correspondence surrounding it indicated that even earlier vice-presidential seals existed, so presumably earlier presidential seals existed as well.The Eagle and the Shield, p. 458 The president's seal was described by Benson Lossing in 1856 as "round, with an eagle upon it" (contrasting it to the seal used during the Continental Congress).
The information on Fillmore's seal is from an 1885 article in the Daily Graphic, and (according to Daniel S. Lamont, the private secretary to Grover Cleveland and one of the article's sources) the 1850 seal was still in use at that time and was used to seal envelopes sent to either house of Congress. The article claims that Stabler made two seals, the other being a smaller one for use on letters, and stated that both were illustrated in the article. While the large seal was illustrated, the rendering of a smaller seal was labeled the "Old Seal" and had only twenty-seven stars, seeming to indicate it would date from 1845 during James K. Polk's administration rather than being a smaller 1850 seal. While Fillmore did use a personal seal (a simple script F in a circular border) it does not appear that this was the smaller seal mentioned. The design on the "Old Seal" was quite similar to the large version, though it was a different rendering of the eagle with small differences in positioning. The inscriptions were also slightly different; the large seal had THE SEAL OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, while the smaller one (like the present-day version) omitted the word "The" at the beginning.
Lincoln's seal The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum owns a small seal used by Abraham Lincoln, which was previously a part of the Taper Collection. It is about the size of a penny, has an ivory handle, and is still encrusted with red wax. The design is exactly the same as the one labeled the "Old Seal" in the Daily Graphic article, except it has 36 stars (Nevada became the 36th state in October 1864). A 1927 book also describes a red wax presidential seal on a letter from Lincoln to Hiram Barney.