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Executive Order 10276 🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority Constitutional Fidelity (+0.33) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 10276—Administration of the Housing and Rent Act of 1947, as Amended, and Termination of the Office of the Housing Expediter

Harry S Truman Harry S Truman
•
Tuesday, July 31, 1951
•
3 min read (681 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 3 min read (681 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

All powers, duties, and functions conferred upon the President by Title II of the Housing and Rent Act of 1947, as amended, exclusive of section 208 (a), as amended, of the said Act, shall be administered through the Economic Stabilization Agency (established by Part IV of Executive Order No. 10161 of September 9, 1950).

View all 4 directives ↓
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority
Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
Framers' constitutional debate ↓
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Armed Forces & Military Establishments Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants
Inspect unabridged text ↓

Plain-English Translation & Framers' Constitutional Analysis

Early Statesman synthesis distilling legal jargon into practical meaning, statutory anchors, and structural constitutional impacts.

Signed by President Harry S Truman on July 31, 1951, this order concerns Administration of the Housing and Rent Act of 1947, as Amended, and Termination of the Office of the Housing Expediter. 1. (a) All powers, duties, and functions conferred upon the President by Title II of the Housing and Rent Act of 1947, as amended, exclusive of section 208 (a), as amended, of the said Act, shall be administered through the Economic Stabilization Agency (established by Part IV of Executive Order No. 10161 of September 9, 1950).

Constitutional Assessment: Scrutinized through Article II, Section 2, this action exercises the President's constitutional role as Commander in Chief. Early Framers recognized broad executive discretion in commanding military forces during conflict, provided it remains bounded by congressional declarations and respects civilian domestic courts.

Key Directives & Operative Actions

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All powers, duties, and functions conferred upon the President by Title II of the Housing and Rent Act of 1947, as amended, exclusive of section 208 (a), as amended, of the said Act, shall be administered through the Economic Stabilization Agency (established by Part IV of Executive Order No. 10161 of September 9, 1950).

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The said powers, duties, and function may be exercised and performed by the Economic Stabilization Administrator or, subject to his direction and control, by such officers and agencies of the Economic Stabilization Agency as the said Administrator shall designate.

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All powers, duties and functions conferred upon the President by Title I of the Housing and Rent Act of 1947, as amended, exclusive of section 4 (e) thereof, as amended, shall be administered through the Housing and Home Finance Agency.

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The said powers, duties, and functions may be exercised and performed by the Hosing and Home Finance Administrator or, subject to his direction and control, by such officers and agencies of the Housing and Home Finance Agency as the said Administrator shall designate. 2.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants

Policy Areas & Topics

🏷️ Housing 🏷️ Economy & Finance 🏷️ National Security & Defense
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The Framers' Constitutional Council

1787 Prism

Evaluating this order against the constitutional debates of 1787 and the limits of Article II executive power.

🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority)
§

"When the President acts pursuant to an express or implied authorization of Congress, his authority is at its maximum, for it includes all that he possesses in his own right plus all that Congress can delegate."

— Justice Robert H. Jackson, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952) Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
JM

James Madison

Separation of Powers & Legislative Primacy

"The constitutional magistracy was designed not to invent policy, but to be the faithful instrument of the laws passed by the people's representatives." — Speech in the First Congress (1789)

Madison would approve the structural posture of this order. The President acts strictly in subordination to statutory authority granted under Article II, Section 3 ("take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed"). The checks and balances hold firm because the policy origin remains with the legislature.

Madisonian Stance: Concurring (Statutory)
AH

Alexander Hamilton

The Energetic Executive & Unified Command

"The direction of war implies the direction of the common strength; and the power of directing and employing the common strength must be under the direction of the single hand of the Executive." — Federalist No. 74 (1788)

Hamilton would forcefully champion executive discretion here. For foreign entanglements, commerce defense, and national security, deliberative assemblies are too slow and faction-ridden. A unified, energetic Executive exercising swift command is precisely what the Philadelphia Convention intended for national preservation.

Hamiltonian Stance: Strong Prerogative Support
GM

George Mason

Bill of Rights, Due Process & 10th Amendment

"The president will be surrounded by flatterers and sycophants... and the great powers of the executive will gradually absorb the liberties of the people." — Cato IV (Anti-Federalist, 1787)

The Anti-Federalist prism advises continuous democratic vigilance. Even routine administrative directives aggregate centralized federal power away from town halls and state assemblies toward a distant executive apparatus.

Anti-Federalist Stance: Eternal Vigilance Required
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Five Measurable "Constitutional Friction" Dimensions

An objective audit measuring potential separation-of-powers tension against the United States Constitution and established Supreme Court doctrine.

⚖️ Discretionary Twilight Zone
46 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8

Legislative Encroachment & Purse

Moderate Friction

Administers commerce or fiscal programs requiring ongoing statutory delegation and legislative oversight.

Benchmark: Power of the purse, taxes/tariffs, and rule of law reserved to Congress.
Dimension 2 • Art. II, §1 & §3

Executive Scope & Faithfulness

Moderate Friction

Directs internal executive branch machinery, agency workflows, and federal personnel.

Benchmark: Faithfully execute laws enacted by Congress vs. unilateral decree.
Dimension 3 • 10th Amendment

Federalism & State Sovereignty

High Friction

Creates friction with the Tenth Amendment by conditioning state grants, mandating local compliance, or preempting state police powers.

Benchmark: Police powers and un-delegated responsibilities reserved to the States.
Dimension 4 • 5th & 14th Amendments

Due Process & Individual Rights

Moderate Friction

Applies regulatory or compliance standards to private contractors or commercial entities.

Benchmark: Protection of private property, contracts, liberty, and procedural justice.
Dimension 5 • Separation of Powers

Youngstown Jacksonian Tier

Low Friction

The President operates strictly as the constitutional Chief Executive, carrying out policy established by Congress with strong statutory backing.

Benchmark: Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
⚖️ Audit Synthesis

This order operates within Justice Jackson’s Zone of Twilight, resting upon concurrent presidential authority or congressional silence.

Weighted composite: Art. I (25%), Art. II (25%), Federalism (15%), Due Process (15%), Youngstown (20%).
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How to read these dimensions: Executive power expands whenever an administration acts without explicit statutory authorization from Congress (Article I), touches upon police powers historically reserved to the states (Tenth Amendment), or limits private rights and property without judicial process. A low friction score indicates strict concordance with enacted law; a high friction score highlights orders testing the limits of presidential discretion.
Total Words
681
4,183 characters
Estimated Read Time
3 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
22.8
Post-Graduate Legal
Language Tone Score
+0.33
Constitutional Fidelity
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

By virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and Statutes, including section 208 (a) of the Housing and Rent Act of 1947, as amended, and as President of the United States and Commander in Chief of the armed forces, it is hereby ordered as follows: 1. (a) All powers, duties, and functions conferred upon the President by Title II of the Housing and Rent Act of 1947, as amended, exclusive of section 208 (a), as amended, of the said Act, shall be administered through the Economic Stabilization Agency (established by Part IV of Executive Order No. 10161 of September 9, 1950). The said powers, duties, and function may be exercised and performed by the Economic Stabilization Administrator or, subject to his direction and control, by such officers and agencies of the Economic Stabilization Agency as the said Administrator shall designate. (b) All powers, duties and functions conferred upon the President by Title I of the Housing and Rent Act of 1947, as amended, exclusive of section 4 (e) thereof, as amended, shall be administered through the Housing and Home Finance Agency. The said powers, duties, and functions may be exercised and performed by the Hosing and Home Finance Administrator or, subject to his direction and control, by such officers and agencies of the Housing and Home Finance Agency as the said Administrator shall designate. 2. The Office of the Housing Expediter is hereby terminated and disposition shall be made of its affairs according to the following paragraphs of this order. 3. The records, property, and personnel of the Office of the Housing Expediter shall be transferred, and the unexpended balances of appropriations, allocations and other funds of the Office of the Housing Expediter shall be transferred or otherwise made available, to the Economic Stabilization Agency, except that any such records relating to matters within the scope of paragraph 1 (b) of this order shall make such determinations and dispositions and take such measures, which shall be carried out in such manner as the Director shall direct and by such agencies as he shall designate, as he shall deem to be necessary in order the effectuate the provisions of this section. 4. In order that the confidential status of any records affected by this order shall be fully protected and maintained, the use of any confidential records transferred hereunder shall be so restricted by the Economic Stabilization Agency and the Housing the Home Finance Agency as to prevent the disclosure of information concerning individual persons or firms to persons who are not engaged in functions or activities to which such records are directly related, except as provided for by law or as required in the final disposition thereof pursuant to law. 5. The authority of the Economic Stabilization Administrator under the provisions of this order shall, subject to the provisions of section 206 (e) of the Housing and Rent Act of 1947, as amended, be deemed to include authority to institute, maintain and defend civil proceedings in any court (including the Emergency Court of Appeals) relating to the matters within the scope of paragraph 1 (a) of this order including any such proceedings pending on the effecting date of this order. 6. All provisions of prior Executive orders, proclamations or parts thereof in conflict with this order are amended accordingly. All other prior and currently effective orders, rules and regulations, directives and other similar instruments relating to any matter affected by the provisions of this order or issued by the Housing Expediter or the Office of the Housing Expediter terminated hereunder or by any predecessor or constituent agency thereof or by any Federal agency shall remain in effect except as they are inconsistent herewith or are hereafter amended or revoked under proper authority. 7. The Economic Stabilization Administrator shall liquidate any of the affairs of the Officer of the Housing Expediter not otherwise provided for in this order. 8. The provisions of this order shall be effective as of the effective date of the Defense Production Act Amendments of 1951. HARRY S. TRUMAN

THE WHITE HOUSE, #signature

July 31, 1951

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Referenced By Later Executive Orders (3)

Subsequent presidents who cited, amended, continued, or revoked this directive in later orders.

Revokes Executive Order 10773—Delegating and Transferring Certain Functions and Affairs to the Office of Defense and Civilian Mobilization
Dwight D. Eisenhower • 1958-07-01
Amends Executive Order 10475—Administration of the Housing and Rent Act of 1947, as Amended
Dwight D. Eisenhower • 1953-07-31
References Executive Order 10293—Amending Executive Order No. 10276 with Respect to the Administration of Title I of the Housing and Rent Act of 1947, as Amended
Harry S Truman • 1951-09-27
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Scholarly & Legal Citations 

Exec. Order No. 10,276 (July 31, 1951), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-10276-administration-the-housing-and-rent-act-1947-amended-and-termination.