WHEREAS on September 23, 1957, I issued Proclamation No.3204 (1)

This executive order starts out by introducing another legal document, complete with another string of numbers to remember. Eisenhower sets us up to review what he declared in Proclamation No.3204.

A quick background: By law, the president had to issue a cease and desist order before he could federalize the National Guard or dispatch federal troops. So the first sentence (and in effect the excerpt he repeats from the proclamation) simply lets everyone know the president is following proper procedure.