The Purpose of a Memorandum According to Former Secretary of State Dean Acheson, a memorandum is meant to protect the writer instead of being issued to inform the reader. I believe that the quote by Former Secretary of State Dean Acheson is not accurate. This statement creates ambiguity because the primary purpose why the writer issues a memorandum is to inform the reader. If the purpose is just to protect the writer and not to inform the reader, just for the sake of issuance, then such memo is of no use. However, this paper seeks to discuss the relevance of both—a memorandum is intended to inform the reader and it is also used to protect the writer. The Business Communication (2015), memorandum or memo literally means a note to assist …show more content…
Informing the reader and protecting the writer must go hand in hand. The claim of Acheson may be understood in these examples. As the Secretary of the State, he is expected to perform his duty properly. If he wants to do something, he can send the President a memo to inform the latter. If such endeavor will turn out to be a failure, Acheson can always claim that the President is aware of what he did. Therefore, he is free from liability. Another example is when he issues a memo to inform the people under him about certain instructions in performing a specific task. If his subordinates are not able to successfully execute the job, he cannot claim that it is not his fault because he already provided them instructions. In the given examples, Acheson must make sure that the memorandum he issued has reached the President and his subordinates. He cannot always claim that he is free from liability once he issues a memo. He is only entitled to protection when the readers of the memo are informed. References Business Communication. (2015). What is Business Memo in Communication? Functions of Memorandum. Retrieved from http://bizcommunicationcoach.com/what-is-business- memo-in-communication-functions-of-memorandum/ The Business Communication. (2015). What is office memo or memorandum? Retrieved from http://thebusinesscommunication.com/what-is-office-memo-or-memorandum/ Thibodeaux,
In Giglio 's case, the Court found that neither DiPaola 's authority nor his failure to inform his superior Hoey or his associate Golden was controlling. The Court held that, regardless of whether the failure to disclose was intentional or negligent, disclosing the information remained the obligation of the prosecutor in its position as spokesman for the government; ergo, a pledge made by one attorney on the case must be attributed to the
In William Howell’s “From Power Without Persuasion”, he defines “unilateral powers”. He also discusses the arguments of Richard Neustadt regarding the power of persuasion the president has in contrast to Howell’s own beliefs about the power the president has when using executive orders.
This essay will examine two documents, The Sharon Statement (1960) and The Port Huron Statement (1962). Both of these documents attempt to defend the liberty of the citizens of the United Sates and demonstrate an opinion on how the government of the United States should approach the future of the country. While both the students in The Sharon Statement and The Port Huron Statement fought for a route to greater freedom, The Sharon Statement supported the founders’ conservative intentions for the United States while The Port Huron Statement proposed a liberal expansion of the government in order to protect individual freedom.
McCraw, David, and Stephen Gikow. “The End to a Unspoken Bargain? National Security and Leaks in a Post-Pentagon Papers World.” Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review 48.2 (2013): 473-509. Academic OneFile. Web. 5 Dec. 2013.
She strengthens the persuasiveness of these statements with an authoritative and informed tone. She also references a poll about how people feel that the Bush administration should deal with security in the United States. Poll participants were asked if they felt the government under Bush was adequately dealing with the matter of security and it was found that “only 11 percent thought the administration had gone too far” (251). She may rely on such techniques so readers do not react too strongly to her essay and instead focus on the validity of her
A cost-benefit analysis is “whenever people decide whether the advantages of a particular action are likely to outweigh its drawbacks” (Benefit-Cost Analysis, n.d.). The analysis estimates the economic value placed upon a
Bose, M.. (1998). Shaping and Signaling Presidential policy; the National Security Decision Making of Eisenhower and Kennedy. College Station: Texas A&M University Press
Spaeth, Harold J. and Edward Conrad Smith. The Constitution of the United States, 13th ed. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1991 (paper). ISBN 0064671054.
This letter is in the first person point of view. The advantage of this point of view is the ability to hear the thoughts of Thomas Jefferson and to approach the situation from his perspective. However, because Jefferson is the narrator, this source can not b considered thoroughly objective. The trustworthiness of the account must be questioned. For example, in his letter to John Jay, Jefferson includes an excerpt of the letter he receiv...
As Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” (Brainyquote.com) Martin Luther King Jr. was born in January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. King skipped ninth and eleventh grade. He stood up and became a leader in the Civil Rights Movement to try to get equal rights for all. In 1964, he was the youngest to ever receive a Nobel Peace Prize. He is very well known for his "I Have A Dream" speech which took place in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC on August 28, 1963. Martin Luther King Jr. should be Innovation Academy's most influential person because he was a great public speaker, he supported and helped others, he also influenced others.
This short memo is being sent out to inform your office about the issues of homelessness and how homelessness is tied into our society. The topics that will be covered in the memo are, the definition of homelessness, how it affects society, the different causes of homelessness, and how it is going to affect society in the future if something is not done about it now. A homeless person is characterized as someone who does not have a stable or permanent residence and frequently sleeps in public or private monitored places. There are many causes of homelessness but the main ones are lack of affordable housing, addictions and long term mental issues. Homelessness is not just a burden upon a few people but on the society as a whole, incarcerations, hospitalization, medical expenses and emergency shelters are some of the expenditures society pays for from taxes. If this problem isn’t taken care of, there will be more people in poverty, more uneducated people and the gap between the rich and poor will grow tremendously. Homelessness is an issue that needs a long term solution.
Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “When the opportunity presents itself for you to defeat your enemy, that is the time which you must not do it,” embodying his philosophy of mutual “Christian love.” Up until the Civil Rights Movement, discrimination and racism had been a major problem in the United States. King’s An Experiment in Love was a declaration of principles, introducing his idea of agape, neighborly, “Christian” love, which he also described as “the love of God toward his creations.” Later, Jane Elliot, whose experiments were documented in A Class Divided, studied discrimination among young children, and Abbey Crain and Matt Ford described an incident of discrimination occurring at their school, the University of Alabama, in the article The Final Barrier: 50 Years Later, Discrimination Still Exists. Harper Lee’s book To Kill a Mockingbird is a love story as interpreted by An Experiment in Love because agape is portrayed in many forms throughout the course of its events.
Watson, Robert P., Devine, Michael J. and Wolz, Robert J. eds., The National Security Legacy
The power of executive privilege has been extremely controversial since basically the beginning of the United States as a democratic government. Many saw this power come into a greater public focus particularly during the Nixon presidency and the infamous Watergate Scandal, but the theory and use of executive privilege existed long before Nixon. As in true American fashion, some argue in favor of executive privilege, while others view it in a more negative light. The intense controversy is what makes executive privilege so intriguing to review in a deeper and more in depth analysis. The theory of executive privilege has derived its power throughout evolution of time, a series of presidencies, and quite a few pinpointed circumstances resulting in some very notorious court cases.
Mingst, Karen A., and Jack L. Snyder. Robert Jervis, Cooperation Under the Security Dilemma. Essential Readings in World Politics. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. Print.