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Executive Order 10359 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 10359—Amending Executive Order No. 10161, as Amended, with Respect to Certain Plant Fibers

Harry S Truman Harry S Truman
•
Monday, June 9, 1952
•
4 min read (796 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 4 min read (796 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

Sections 303, 307, 310(b), and 311(b) of Executive Order No. 10161 of September 9, 1950 (15 F.R. 6105), as amended, are hereby amended to read, respectively, as follows: "SEC. 303.

View all 4 directives ↓
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight
Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
Framers' constitutional debate ↓
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Armed Forces & Military Establishments
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 June 9, 1952, this order concerns Amending Executive Order No. 10161, as Amended, with Respect to Certain Plant Fibers. Sections 303, 307, 310(b), and 311(b) of Executive Order No. 10161 of September 9, 1950 (15 F.R. 6105), as amended, are hereby amended to read, respectively, as follows: "SEC. 303. The Defense Materials Procurement Administrator is hereby authorized and directed to purchase and make commitments to purchase metals, minerals, and other materials, for Government use or resale, as authorized by and subject to the…

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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Sections 303, 307, 310(b), and 311(b) of Executive Order No. 10161 of September 9, 1950 (15 F.R. 6105), as amended, are hereby amended to read, respectively, as follows: "SEC. 303.

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The Defense Materials Procurement Administrator is hereby authorized and directed to purchase and make commitments to purchase metals, minerals, and other materials, for Government use or resale, as authorized by and subject to the provisions of section 303 of the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended: Provided, That the Secretary of Agriculture may also exercise the said functions under section 303 of the said Act, as amended, with respect to food, and with respect to plant fibers (except abaca) not included in the definition of food to the extent that the procurement of such fibers involves the encouragement and development of sources of supply within the United States and its Territories and possessions." "SEC. 307.

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The functions conferred upon the Defense Materials Procurement Administrator by sections 303 to 306 inclusive, of this Executive order shall be carried out in accordance with programs certified to the said Administrator by the Defense Production Administrator: Provided, That any exercise by the Defense Materials Procurement Administrator of the functions provided for in section 303 hereof with respect to food shall be carried out in accordance with programs certified to him by the Secretary of Agriculture: And provided further, That the functions conferred upon the Secretary of Agriculture by section 303 hereof with respect to plant fibers (except abaca) not included in the definition of food shall be carried out in accordance with…

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"SEC. 310. * * * "(b) Loans under section 310(a) hereof (1) shall be made upon such terms and conditions as the Corporation shall determine, (2) shall be made only after the Corporation has determined in each instance that financial assistance is not available on reasonable terms from private sources or from other governmental sources, and (3) except in the case of working capital loans (involving no more than minor expansion of capacity which is incidental to a loan for working capital) shall be made only upon certificate of essentiality of the loan, which certificate shall be made (a) by the Secretary of Agriculture with respect to food and food facilities, and with respect to plant fibers (except abaca) not included in the definition…

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments

Policy Areas & Topics

🏷️ Agriculture 🏷️ National Security & Defense 🏷️ Trade & Tariffs
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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 2 (Zone of Twilight)
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"When the President acts in absence of either a congressional grant or denial of authority, he can only rely upon his own independent powers, but there is a zone of twilight in which he and Congress may have concurrent authority."

— Justice Robert H. Jackson, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952) Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
JM

James Madison

Separation of Powers & Legislative Primacy

"Power is of an encroaching nature, and it ought to be effectually restrained from passing the limits assigned to it." — Federalist No. 48 (1788)

Madison would view this order with watchful scrutiny. Operating in the 'Zone of Twilight' where Congress is silent, each such directive establishes an administrative precedent that steadily expands the executive perimeter at the expense of legislative primacy.

Madisonian Stance: Vigilant / Cautionary
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
50 / 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

Low Friction

Focuses on internal governmental operations with no direct impairment of private rights or property.

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

Youngstown Jacksonian Tier

Moderate Friction

The order relies on inherent Article II executive discretion, civil service management, or foreign diplomacy where Congress has neither expressly approved nor prohibited action.

Benchmark: Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
⚖️ 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
796
4,930 characters
Estimated Read Time
4 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
28.5
Post-Graduate Legal
Language Tone Score
+0.02
Constitutional Neutral
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 the Defense Production Act of 1950 as amended (50 U.S.C. App. 2061 et seq.), and as President of the United States and Commander in Chief of the armed forces of the United States, it is ordered as follows: SECTION 1. Sections 303, 307, 310(b), and 311(b) of Executive Order No. 10161 of September 9, 1950 (15 F.R. 6105), as amended, are hereby amended to read, respectively, as follows: "SEC. 303. The Defense Materials Procurement Administrator is hereby authorized and directed to purchase and make commitments to purchase metals, minerals, and other materials, for Government use or resale, as authorized by and subject to the provisions of section 303 of the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended: Provided, That the Secretary of Agriculture may also exercise the said functions under section 303 of the said Act, as amended, with respect to food, and with respect to plant fibers (except abaca) not included in the definition of food to the extent that the procurement of such fibers involves the encouragement and development of sources of supply within the United States and its Territories and possessions." "SEC. 307. The functions conferred upon the Defense Materials Procurement Administrator by sections 303 to 306 inclusive, of this Executive order shall be carried out in accordance with programs certified to the said Administrator by the Defense Production Administrator: Provided, That any exercise by the Defense Materials Procurement Administrator of the functions provided for in section 303 hereof with respect to food shall be carried out in accordance with programs certified to him by the Secretary of Agriculture: And provided further, That the functions conferred upon the Secretary of Agriculture by section 303 hereof with respect to plant fibers (except abaca) not included in the definition of food shall be carried out in accordance with programs certified to the Secretary by the Defense Production Administrator. "SEC. 310. * * * "(b) Loans under section 310(a) hereof (1) shall be made upon such terms and conditions as the Corporation shall determine, (2) shall be made only after the Corporation has determined in each instance that financial assistance is not available on reasonable terms from private sources or from other governmental sources, and (3) except in the case of working capital loans (involving no more than minor expansion of capacity which is incidental to a loan for working capital) shall be made only upon certificate of essentiality of the loan, which certificate shall be made (a) by the Secretary of Agriculture with respect to food and food facilities, and with respect to plant fibers (except abaca) not included in the definition of food, and facilities therefore, in instances involving the encouragement and development of sources of supply of such fibers within the United States and the Territories and possessions and to the extent that such loans are a part of and in accordance with the terms of a program certified by the Defense Production Administrator pursuant to section 307 hereof, and (b) by the Defense Production Administrator with respect to all other materials and facilities." "SEC. 311. * * * "(b) Loans under section 311(a) hereof (1) shall be made upon such terms and conditions as the said Bank shall determine, (2) shall be made only after the Bank has determined in each instance that financial assistance is not available on reasonable terms from private sources and that the loan involved cannot be made under the provisions of and from funds available to the Bank under the Export-Import Bank Act of 1945, as amended, and (3) shall be made only upon certificate of essentiality of the loan, which certificate shall be made (a) by the Secretary of Agriculture with respect to food and food facilities, and with respect to plant fibers (except abaca) not included in the definition of food, and facilities therefore, in instances involving the encouragement and development of sources of supply of such fibers within the United States and its Territories and possessions and to the extent that such loans are a part of an in accordance with the terms of a program certified by the Defense Production Administrator pursuant to section 307 hereof, and (b) by the Defense Production Administrator with respect to all other materials and facilities." SEC. 2. To the extent that provisions of any prior Executive order are inconsistent with the provisions of this order this order shall prevail, and any such prior provisions are amended accordingly. All orders, regulations, rulings, certificates, directives, and other actions relating to any function affected by this order shall remain in effect except as they are inconsistent herewith or are hereafter amended, modified, or revoked under proper authority. HARRY S. TRUMAN

THE WHITE HOUSE, #signature

June 9, 1952

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Referenced By Later Executive Orders (1)

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

References Executive Order 10480—Further Providing for the Administration of the Defense Mobilization Program
Dwight D. Eisenhower • 1953-08-14
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Scholarly & Legal Citations 

Exec. Order No. 10,359 (June 9, 1952), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-10359-amending-executive-order-no-10161-amended-with-respect-certain-plant.