Director of the U.S. Government Publishing Office

The director of the U.S. Government Publishing Office, formerly the public printer of the United States, is the head of the United States Government Publishing Office (GPO). Pursuant to 44 U.S.C. § 301, this officer is nominated by the president of the United States and approved by the United States Senate. The title was changed to "Director" when in December 2014, Congress passed and President Barack Obama signed into law H.R. 83, which consolidated and continued appropriations for FY 2015. Section 1301 of that act changed the name of the Government Printing Office to the Government Publishing Office and the title of public printer to director. Thus, Davita Vance-Cooks was the last public printer of the United States and the first director of the U.S. Government Publishing Office.

William J. Boarman
Davita E. Vance-Cooks
Hugh N. Halpern

The director is responsible for the administration of the GPO. The GPO, a legislative agency of the government, provides electronic access to and produced most printed matter for government, including the Congressional Record, Supreme Court decisions, passports, tax forms, internal government documents, and agency publications. The GPO did not print money, as that is a duty of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.

History

Benjamin Franklin served as Public Printer for several of the American colonies prior to the establishment of the United States. The House and Senate had separate printers until 1861, when the GPO was established; its first superintendent was John D. Defrees. The first man with the title Public Printer of the United States was Almon M. Clapp.

List of leaders

Superintendents (1861–1876)

The follow persons served as superintendent of the General Printing Office:

No. Image Superintendent Term start Term end Refs.
1 John D. Defrees March 4, 1861 1866
2 Cornelius Wendell September 1, 1866 February 28, 1867
3 John D. Defrees March 1, 1867 April 14, 1869
4 Almon M. Clapp April 15, 1869 July 31, 1876

Public printers (1876-2014)

The follow persons served as public printer of the General Printing Office:

No. Image Public printer Term start Term end Refs.
1 Almon M. Clapp August 1, 1876 May 30, 1877
2 John D. Defrees June 1, 1877 1882
3 Sterling P. Rounds April 15, 1882 September 12, 1886
4 Thomas E. Benedict September 13, 1886 May 6, 1889
5 Francis W. Palmer May 7, 1889 May 2, 1894
6 Thomas E. Benedict May 3, 1894 March 30, 1897
7 Francis W. Palmer March 31, 1897 September 8, 1905
8 Charles A. Stillings November 1, 1905

February 5, 1908
9 John S. Leech June 9, 1908 November 30, 1908
10 Samuel B. Donnelly December 1, 1908 June 25, 1913
11 Cornelius Ford June 26, 1913 1921
12 George H. Carter April 5, 1921 1934
13 Augustus E. Giegengack July 2, 1934 March 9, 1948
14 John J. Deviny May 6, 1948 February 28, 1953
15 Raymond Blattenberger April 28, 1953 January 20, 1961
16 James L. Harrison March 17, 1961 March 31, 1970
17 Adolphus N. Spence April 1, 1970 January 11, 1972
18 Thomas F. McCormick March 1, 1973 October 31, 1977
19 John J. Boyle November 1, 1977 February 29, 1980
20 Danford L. Sawyer, Jr. 1981 1984
21 Ralph E. Kennickell, Jr. 1984 1988
22 Robert Houk 1990 1993
23 Michael F. DiMario 1993 2002
24 Bruce James 2002 2006
Acting William H. Turri January 2007 November 5, 2007
25 Robert Tapella November 6, 2007 December 29, 2010
Acting Paul Erickson December 30, 2010 January 4, 2011
26 William J. Boarman January 5, 2011 January 2, 2012
Acting Davita E. Vance-Cooks January 3, 2012 August 21, 2012
27 August 21, 2012 December 17, 2014

Directors (since 2014)

No. Image Director Term start Term end Refs.
1 Davita E. Vance-Cooks December 17, 2014 November 1, 2017
Acting Jim Bradley November 2, 2017 March 6, 2018
Acting Andrew M. Sherman March 6, 2018 June 30, 2018
Acting Herbert H. Jackson, Jr., July 1, 2018 March 31, 2019
Acting John Crawford April 1, 2019 December 10, 2019
2 Hugh Nathanial Halpern December 11, 2019 present

Table notes

  1. ↑ Died in office
  2. ↑ Unconfirmed recess appointment
  3. 1 2 December 17, 2014, is the date when the public printer of the Government Printing Office became the director of the Government Publishing Office.

References

  1. ↑ "H.R. 83 Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act 2015" (PDF). govinfo.gov. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 22, 2016. Retrieved July 11, 2016.
  2. ↑ "U.S. GPO press release". December 17, 2014. Archived from the original on September 14, 2016. Retrieved July 11, 2016.
  3. ↑ "A Short History of GPO Part 1". Federal Library Deposit Program. U.S. Government Publishing Office. November 22, 2017. Archived from the original on September 3, 2021. Retrieved September 3, 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 MacGilvray, Daniel R. (1986). A Short History of GPO. GPO.
  5. 1 2 "Portraits of past Public Printers". GPO. Archived from the original on July 7, 2010.
  6. ↑ "James L. Harrison, 94, Dies; Public Printer of the U.S." The Washington Post. October 10, 2000. Archived from the original on November 2, 2012. Retrieved December 20, 2009 – via HighBeam Research.
  7. ↑ Cross, Lisa (June 1, 2001). "PIA Backs a Nominee For Public Printer Post". Graphic Arts Monthly. Archived from the original on October 25, 2012. Retrieved December 20, 2009 – via HighBeam Research.
  8. ↑ ALAWON, Volume 2, Number 51, November 13, 1993. bubl.ac.uk
  9. ↑ "BRUCE R. JAMES". United States Public Printer. Archived from the original on May 22, 2014. Retrieved May 22, 2014.
  10. ↑ Morrison, Jane Ann (March 29, 2002). "Nomination Planned: Bush to tap Nevadan for top printing post". Las Vegas Review-Journal (Las Vegas, NV). Retrieved December 20, 2009.
  11. ↑ "Deputy Public Printer To Retire". WhatTheyThink. May 21, 2008.
  12. ↑ "GPO - Public Printer's Biography". Archived from the original on March 25, 2009. Retrieved March 16, 2009.
  13. ↑ "Presidential Nominations Sent to the Senate, 4/19/10". whitehouse.gov. April 19, 2010. Archived from the original on February 16, 2017. Retrieved October 6, 2013 – via National Archives.
  14. ↑ "Tapella Resigns to Allow Recess Appointment of Boarman as Public Printer". In-plant Impressions. December 29, 2010.
  15. ↑ Sherburne, Cary (November 6, 2007). "Education Week: First Interview with Public Printer Bob Tapella: Discusses education, the death of offset, and more". WhatTheyThink.
  16. ↑ "GPO'S STATEMENT ON PUBLIC PRINTER BOARMAN'S NOMINATION" (PDF). U.S. Government Printing Office. December 18, 2011. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 28, 2021. Retrieved August 28, 2021.
  17. ↑ "William J. Boarman Sworn In as 26th Public Printer". In-plant Impressions. January 5, 2011. William J. "Bill" Boarman has been sworn in as the 26th Public Printer of the United States.
  18. ↑ "Senate Confirms Vance-Cooks as Public Printer". In-plant Impressions. August 2, 2013. After serving as Acting Public Printer for the past 19 months, Davita Vance-Cooks can finally drop "Acting" from her title. The U.S. Senate has unanimously confirmed her as the 27th U.S. Public Printer, the first African-American and the first woman ever to lead the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO). With more than 30 years of private sector and Government experience, Vance-Cooks has served as the Acting Public Printer since January 3, 2012, the day previous Public Printer Bill Boarman was forced to step down when the Senate failed to confirm his recess appointment.
  19. ↑ Hicks, Josh (August 2, 2013). "Davita Vance-Cooks confirmed as first female and African American public printer". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on June 10, 2015. Retrieved October 6, 2013.
  20. ↑ "Vance-Cooks Confirmed as Public Printer". In-plant Impressions. September 1, 2013. After serving as Acting Public Printer for the past 19 months, Davita Vance-Cooks can finally drop "Acting" from her title. The U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed her as the 27th U.S. Public Printer, the first African-American—and the first woman—ever to lead the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO). She was officially sworn into office on August 21 by Judge Gerald Bruce Lee of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, with John Crawford, a GPO employee since 1966, acting as master of ceremonies.
  21. 1 2 Williams, Jake (December 17, 2014). "GPO gets name change to reflect digital times". FedScoop.
  22. ↑ "GPO Director Davita Vance-Cooks Departs Federal Service". GPO. November 1, 2017. The U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) Director Davita Vance-Cooks has announced her departure from Federal service to accept a job in the private sector. By law, GPO Deputy Director Jim Bradley assumes the duties of Acting GPO Director until a replacement is appointed.
  23. ↑ "Jim Bradley To Be Acting GPO Director--Capitol Hill Veteran to Lead the Agency". GPO. November 2, 2017. Deputy Director Jim Bradley becomes Acting Director for the U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO). Bradley assumes his new role effective immediately, following the departure of GPO Director of Davita Vance-Cooks.
  24. ↑ "Acting GPO Director Jim Bradley Retires". GPO. March 6, 2018. Acting U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) Director Jim Bradley has retired after more than 47 years of Federal service, with the past 22 years at GPO. Bradley held numerous leadership positions at GPO, including that of Acting Director since November 2017... With Bradley's departure, GPO's Chief of Staff, Andrew M. Sherman, will serve as Acting Deputy Director, in accordance with GPO's succession directive.
  25. ↑ "Andrew M. Sherman to Retire after 38 Years Of Service". GPO. June 19, 2018. Acting Deputy Director Andrew M. Sherman has announced his retirement following 38 years of Federal service, all at the GPO. Following his departure at the end of June, GPO's Chief Administrative Officer, Herbert H. Jackson, Jr., will become Acting Deputy Director, in accordance with the GPO's succession directive... Following the retirement of Deputy Director Jim Bradley in March 2018, Sherman became the head of the agency as Acting Deputy Director.
  26. ↑ "GPO'S ACTING DEPUTY DIRECTOR TO RETIRE MARCH 31". GPO. March 19, 2019. U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) Acting Deputy Director and Chief Administrative Officer, Herbert H. Jackson, Jr., announced he will retire on March 31, 2019. Jackson has served as Acting Deputy Director since July 2018. He has been at GPO for 38 years. In accordance with GPO's succession directive, Managing Director of Plant Operations John Crawford will become Acting Deputy Director on April 1st.
  27. ↑ "John Crawford". GPO.
  28. ↑ "Hugh Halpern". GPO.gov. U.S. Government Publishing Office. Archived from the original on July 27, 2021. Retrieved September 3, 2021.
  29. ↑ "Senate Confirms Hugh Halpern as GPO Director". GPO. October 16, 2019. He is the 28th person to lead GPO since the agency opened its doors for business on March 4, 1861, the same day Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as the 16th President of the United States.
  30. ↑ "Halpern Sworn in as GPO Director". In-plant Impressions. February 4, 2020. Vice President Mike Pence swore in Government Publishing Office (GPO) Director Hugh Nathanial Halpern on January 29, 2020 in a swearing-in ceremony at the Vice President's Office. Halpern is the 28th person to lead GPO since the agency opened its doors for business on March 4, 1861, the same day Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as the 16th President of the United States... He was confirmed by the full Senate on December 4 and was officially sworn in on his first day at GPO on December 11.