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Executive Order 10376 🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority Constitutional Fidelity (+0.29) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 10376—Providing for Permanent Appointments in the Field Service of the Post Office Department

Harry S Truman Harry S Truman
•
Friday, July 18, 1952
•
2 min read (448 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 2 min read (448 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

Notwithstanding the provisions of section 1(a) of Executive Order No. 10180 of November 13, 1950, and to the extent authorized by law, appointments to positions in the field service of the Post Office Department for which salary rates are fixed by the act of July 6, 1945, 59 Stat. 435, as amended and supplemented, shall be made on a permanent basis.

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 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 18, 1952, this order concerns Providing for Permanent Appointments in the Field Service of the Post Office Department. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 1(a) of Executive Order No. 10180 of November 13, 1950, and to the extent authorized by law, appointments to positions in the field service of the Post Office Department for which salary rates are fixed by the act of July 6, 1945, 59 Stat. 435, as amended and supplemented, shall be made on a permanent basis. SEC. 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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Notwithstanding the provisions of section 1(a) of Executive Order No. 10180 of November 13, 1950, and to the extent authorized by law, appointments to positions in the field service of the Post Office Department for which salary rates are fixed by the act of July 6, 1945, 59 Stat. 435, as amended and supplemented, shall be made on a permanent basis.

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Under such conditions as the Civil Service Commission may prescribe, and to the extent permitted by law, employees serving under indefinite appointments in the field service of the Post Office Department whose salary rates are fixed by the said act of July 6, 1945, as amended and supplemented (hereinafter referred to as employees), and who were appointed by selection in regular order from competitive civil-service registers established subsequent to February 4, 1946, or who normally would have been appointed by selection in regular order from such registers, shall have their appointments converted to probational or permanent appointments as of the effective date of this order: Provided, that such employees have served continuously (or…

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Employees in excess of the number required to fill vacancies in the authorized complement of permanent positions shall have their names entered on appropriate competitive registers and thereafter shall be eligible for probational appointment in accordance with civil-service regulations.

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Employees who left positions in the field service of the Post Office Department to enter the armed forces of the United States and are reemployed therein after the effective date of this order pursuant to application for reemployment made within ninety days after honorable discharge, or after hospitalization continuing after discharge for not more than one year, shall have their former indefinite appointments converted to probational or permanent appointments in accordance with this section.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants

Policy Areas & Topics

🏷️ Government Operations & Civil Service
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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
48 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8

Legislative Encroachment & Purse

High Friction

Touches upon core congressional prerogatives: raises appropriations reallocation, tariff imposition, or statutory preemption questions.

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

Moderate Friction

Engages state and local partners in cooperative federalism programs.

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
448
2,841 characters
Estimated Read Time
2 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
20.5
Post-Graduate Legal
Language Tone Score
+0.29
Constitutional Fidelity
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

By virtue of the authority vested in me by section 2 of the Civil Service Act (22 Stat. 403) and section 1753 of the Revised Statutes of the United States (5 U.S.C. 631), it is hereby ordered as follows: SECTION 1. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 1(a) of Executive Order No. 10180 of November 13, 1950, and to the extent authorized by law, appointments to positions in the field service of the Post Office Department for which salary rates are fixed by the act of July 6, 1945, 59 Stat. 435, as amended and supplemented, shall be made on a permanent basis. SEC. 2. (a) Under such conditions as the Civil Service Commission may prescribe, and to the extent permitted by law, employees serving under indefinite appointments in the field service of the Post Office Department whose salary rates are fixed by the said act of July 6, 1945, as amended and supplemented (hereinafter referred to as employees), and who were appointed by selection in regular order from competitive civil-service registers established subsequent to February 4, 1946, or who normally would have been appointed by selection in regular order from such registers, shall have their appointments converted to probational or permanent appointments as of the effective date of this order: Provided, that such employees have served continuously (or without a break in service of more than ninety days) since they were appointed: Provided further, that the number of employees whose appointments may be converted under this section shall not exceed the number of vacancies in the authorized complement of permanent positions (consisting of regular positions and positions within the authorized quota of substitutes) existing on the effective date of this order: And provided further, that employees shall be selected for conversion of their appointments in the order in which they were or would have been within reach for appointment from such registers. Employees in excess of the number required to fill vacancies in the authorized complement of permanent positions shall have their names entered on appropriate competitive registers and thereafter shall be eligible for probational appointment in accordance with civil-service regulations. (b) Employees who left positions in the field service of the Post Office Department to enter the armed forces of the United States and are reemployed therein after the effective date of this order pursuant to application for reemployment made within ninety days after honorable discharge, or after hospitalization continuing after discharge for not more than one year, shall have their former indefinite appointments converted to probational or permanent appointments in accordance with this section. SEC. 3. This order shall become effective thirty days after the date hereof. HARRY S. TRUMAN

THE WHITE HOUSE, #signature

July 18, 1952

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Scholarly & Legal Citations 

Exec. Order No. 10,376 (July 18, 1952), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-10376-providing-for-permanent-appointments-the-field-service-the-post.