GPO director Hugh Halpern marks U.S. 250th with history of agency’s printing role

Hugh Halpern, director of the U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO), marked the nation’s 250th birthday in a recorded message and highlighted the agency’s historic role preserving and producing official government publications. “I’m sending America a very happy 250th birthday,” Halpern said, speaking for GPO staff.

Halpern tied the agency’s mission to early American printing traditions, invoking Benjamin Franklin as a symbolic predecessor. “If GPO were to have a patron saint, it’s Ben Franklin,” he said, noting Franklin’s apprenticeship at age 12 and later role as one of the country’s first public printers.

The director cited specific historical examples to illustrate GPO’s public service. He said GPO printers in 1862 “worked late into the night to produce 15,000 copies of the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation,” and that President Abraham Lincoln visited the agency in 1863. He also noted that since 1873 GPO has documented “every word spoken in Congress through the Congressional Record,” and that the agency has partnered with the joint congressional committee on inaugural ceremonies since 1901 to mark new presidencies.

Halpern pointed to GPO’s role in producing secure identity documents, saying the agency began manufacturing the U.S. passport in 1926 and that “this year marks a century of manufacturing the world's preeminent identification document.” He also listed other examples of the agency’s output across decades, including World War II posters, the Warren Commission and 9/11 Commission reports, and the annual Medicare consumer guide, Medicare and You.

In closing, Halpern framed GPO’s work as part of a broader civic mission to inform the public and preserve historical records. “GPO is honored to not only preserve that history, but to be a part of it,” he said. He ended the message with another birthday wish: “Happy birthday, America. And here's to the next 250 years.”

The message is a commemorative statement rather than a policy announcement; it summarizes GPO’s historical functions and ongoing mission to provide access to government information.