the first president to issue an executive order

A brief look at the history of executive orders shows us just how powerful these directives can be. They offer the president an immediate way to advance his policies without the approval of the judicial and legislative branches.

As one former White House aide put it, executive orders are "the stroke of the pen, the law of the land. Kind of cool."

They're more than kind of cool, if you ask us. Some are kind of controversial and many more incredibly memorable. Here's a look back at prominent executive orders from the past...