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Executive Orders Historical Archive
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Executive Order 10336 ⚖️⚠️ Zone 3: Lowest Ebb Constitutional Friction / Overreach (-0.19) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief / War Prerogative Tension

Executive Order 10336—Amendment of Executive Order No. 9586 of July 6, 1945, Establishing the Medal of Freedom

Harry S Truman Harry S Truman
•
Thursday, April 3, 1952
•
3 min read (511 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 3 min read (511 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

There is hereby established a medal to be known as the Medal of Freedom, with accompanying ribbons and appurtenances.

View all 4 directives ↓
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️⚠️ Zone 3: Lowest Ebb
Incompatible with Expressed Will of Congress or High Friction
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief / War Prerogative Tension
Framers' constitutional debate ↓
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Armed Forces & Military Establishments Sovereign State Governments & Localities Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants Private Citizens & Property Owners
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 April 3, 1952, this order concerns Amendment of Executive Order No. 9586 of July 6, 1945, Establishing the Medal of Freedom. "1. There is hereby established a medal to be known as the Medal of Freedom, with accompanying ribbons and appurtenances. The Medal and its appurtenances shall be of appropriate design, approved by the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense. "2.

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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There is hereby established a medal to be known as the Medal of Freedom, with accompanying ribbons and appurtenances.

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The Medal and its appurtenances shall be of appropriate design, approved by the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense.

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The Medal of Freedom shall not be awarded to a citizen of the United States for any act or service performed within the continental limits of the United States or to a member of the armed forces of the United States.

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The Medal of Freedom may be awarded by the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Army, the Secretary of the Navy, or the Secretary of the Air Force, or by such officers as they may respectively designate.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Sovereign State Governments & Localities 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners 🏛️ Foreign Nations & International Entities

Policy Areas & Topics

🏷️ 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 3 (Lowest Ebb)
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"When the President takes measures incompatible with the expressed or implied will of Congress, his power is at its lowest ebb."

— Justice Robert H. Jackson, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952) Incompatible with Expressed Will of Congress or High Friction
JM

James Madison

Separation of Powers & Legislative Primacy

"The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands... may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny." — Federalist No. 47 (1788)

Madison would express grave alarm over this order. By asserting independent authority in tension with legislative limits or the Bill of Rights, the Executive risks collapsing the separation of powers into unilateral rule. Under the Madisonian model, no emergency justifies the Executive substituting its decree for a deliberative Act of Congress.

Madisonian Stance: Strict Dissent (Overreach)
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 purse and the sword ought never to be in the same hands... nor the liberties of the citizen placed at the pleasure of a single magistrate." — Virginia Ratifying Convention (1788)

George Mason and the Anti-Federalists would sound a fierce warning. They feared that Article II would inevitably evolve into an elective monarchy. When an executive order impacts private rights, property, or civil liberties without individualized judicial process, Mason would see their darkest predictions verified.

Anti-Federalist Stance: Vehement Objection
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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.

⚠️ Elevated Constitutional Friction
63 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8

Legislative Encroachment & Purse

Low Friction

Operates within delegated statutory execution without modifying legislative appropriations or taxing powers.

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

Executive Scope & Faithfulness

High Friction

Invokes broad unilateral or emergency executive authorities that test the constitutional boundary of the Take Care Clause.

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

High Friction

The order asserts independent Article II prerogative against statutory constraints, reallocates funds without explicit appropriation, or stretches executive power into realms constitutionally reserved to the legislature or judiciary.

Benchmark: Incompatible with Expressed Will of Congress or High Friction
⚖️ Audit Synthesis

This directive engages significant constitutional friction across statutory authorization, legislative prerogatives, or individual liberties.

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
511
2,916 characters
Estimated Read Time
3 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
19.5
Post-Graduate Legal
Language Tone Score
-0.19
Constitutional Friction / Overreach
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

Executive Order No. 9586 of July 6, 1945, establishing the Medal of Freedom, is hereby amended to read as follows: "By virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States and as Commander in Chief of the armed forces of the United States, it is ordered as follows: "1. There is hereby established a medal to be known as the Medal of Freedom, with accompanying ribbons and appurtenances. The Medal and its appurtenances shall be of appropriate design, approved by the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense. "2. (a) The Medal of Freedom may be awarded to any person not hereinafter specifically excluded who, on or after December 7, 1941, has performed a meritorious act or service which (1) has aided the United States in the prosecution of a war against an enemy or enemies, (2) has aided any nation engaged with the United States in the prosecution of a war against a common enemy or enemies, or (3), during any period of national emergency declared by the President or the Congress to exist, has furthered the interests of the security of the United States or of any nation allied or associated with the United States during such period, and for which act or service the award of any other United States medal or decoration is considered inappropriate. "2. (b) Under special circumstances, and without regard to the existence of a state of war or national emergency, the Medal of Freedom may also be awarded by, or at the direction of, the President to any person, not hereinafter specifically excluded, for performance of a meritorious act or service in the interests of the security of the United States. "3. The Medal of Freedom shall not be awarded to a citizen of the United States for any act or service performed within the continental limits of the United States or to a member of the armed forces of the United States. "4. The Medal of Freedom may be awarded by the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Army, the Secretary of the Navy, or the Secretary of the Air Force, or by such officers as they may respectively designate. Awards shall be made under such regulations as the said Secretaries shall severally prescribe, and such regulations shall, so far as practicable be of uniform application. "5. The head of any department or agency of the United States not named herein may recommend to the Secretary of Defense the award of the Medal of Freedom and appurtenances thereto for meritorious acts or services performed under the cognizance or direction of the head of such department or agency, and the Secretary of Defense may make such awards. "6. No more than one Medal of Freedom shall be awarded to any one person, but for a subsequent act or service justifying such an award a suitable device may be awarded to be worn with the medal. "7. The Medal of Freedom may be awarded posthumously." HARRY S. TRUMAN

THE WHITE HOUSE, #signature

April 3, 1952

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Referenced By Later Executive Orders (1)

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

Amends Executive Order 11085—The Presidential Medal of Freedom
John F. Kennedy • 1963-02-22
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Scholarly & Legal Citations 

Exec. Order No. 10,336 (Apr. 3, 1952), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-10336-amendment-executive-order-no-9586-july-6-1945-establishing-the-medal.