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Executive Order 10623 🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. I §8: Delegated Tariff & Commerce Execution

Executive Order 10623—Amendment of Certain Provisions of Executive Orders No. 10000 and No. 10011, as Amended, Pertaining to Salary Differentials and Allowances for Officers and Employees of the Foreign Service Serving Outside the United States

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight D. Eisenhower
•
Saturday, July 23, 1955
•
3 min read (672 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 3 min read (672 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

Clause (2) of the introductory paragraph of Order No. 10000 of September 16, 1948, prescribing regulations governing additional compensation and credit granted certain employees of the Federal Government serving outside the United States, is hereby amended to read as follows: (2) governing the payment of salary differentials to Foreign Service officers, Foreign Service Reserve officers, and Foreign Service staff officers and employees assigned to certain posts, pursuant to the said section 443, as amended. 2.

View all 4 directives ↓
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority
Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
📜 Art. I §8: Delegated Tariff & Commerce Execution
Framers' constitutional debate ↓
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Sovereign State Governments & Localities Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants Foreign Nations & International Entities
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 Dwight D. Eisenhower on July 23, 1955, this order concerns Amendment of Certain Provisions of Executive Orders No. 10000 and No. 10011, as Amended, Pertaining to Salary Differentials and Allowances for Officers and Employees of the Foreign Service Serving Outside the United States. Clause (2) of the introductory paragraph of Order No. 10000 of September 16, 1948, prescribing regulations governing additional compensation and credit granted certain employees of the Federal Government serving outside the United States, is hereby amended to read as follows: (2) governing the payment of salary differentials to Foreign Service officers, Foreign Service Reserve officers, and Foreign Service staff…

Constitutional Assessment: This action represents an orderly exercise of Article II administrative discretion, managing the internal machinery and personnel of the executive branch without abridging the ancient liberties of the people.

Key Directives & Operative Actions

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Clause (2) of the introductory paragraph of Order No. 10000 of September 16, 1948, prescribing regulations governing additional compensation and credit granted certain employees of the Federal Government serving outside the United States, is hereby amended to read as follows: (2) governing the payment of salary differentials to Foreign Service officers, Foreign Service Reserve officers, and Foreign Service staff officers and employees assigned to certain posts, pursuant to the said section 443, as amended. 2.

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Of the said Executive Order No. 10000 is hereby amended to read as follows: SEC. 401.

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The Secretary of State is hereby authorized and empowered to exercise the authority vested in the President by section 443 of the Foreign Service Act of 1946, as amended, to establish, under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, rates of salary differential, not exceeding 25 per centum of basic salary, for Foreign Service officers, Foreign Service Reserve officers, and Foreign Service staff officers and employees permanently or temporarily assigned to posts involving extraordinarily difficult living conditions, excessive physical hardship, or notably unhealthful conditions, which posts shall be known as "Foreign Service Differential Posts", 3.

▪

Of the said Executive Order No. 10000, as amended, and section 403 of that order are hereby revoked: Provided, that existing rules and regulations pertaining to the payment of salary differentials to Foreign Service staff officers and employees serving at designated Foreign Service Differential Posts shall remain in effect until superseded by action taken pursuant to this order. 4.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Sovereign State Governments & Localities 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Foreign Nations & International Entities

Policy Areas & Topics

🏷️ Uncategorized
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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)
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"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: Supportive of Execution
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
31 / 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

Low Friction

Exercises standard supervisory executive authority to faithfully execute existing statutes.

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

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

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
672
4,168 characters
Estimated Read Time
3 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
15.4
College Level
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 sections 303, 443, 853, and 901 of the Foreign Service Act of 1946 (60 Stat. 1002, 1006, 1024, 1025; 22 U.S.C. 843, 888, 1093, 1131), as amended by the Foreign Service Act Amendments of 1955 (69 Stat. 24), and by section 301 of title 3 of the United States Code, and as President of the United States, it is ordered as follows: 1. Clause (2) of the introductory paragraph of Order No. 10000 of September 16, 1948, prescribing regulations governing additional compensation and credit granted certain employees of the Federal Government serving outside the United States, is hereby amended to read as follows: (2) governing the payment of salary differentials to Foreign Service officers, Foreign Service Reserve officers, and Foreign Service staff officers and employees assigned to certain posts, pursuant to the said section 443, as amended. 2. Section 401 of the said Executive Order No. 10000 is hereby amended to read as follows: SEC. 401. Salary Differentials. The Secretary of State is hereby authorized and empowered to exercise the authority vested in the President by section 443 of the Foreign Service Act of 1946, as amended, to establish, under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, rates of salary differential, not exceeding 25 per centum of basic salary, for Foreign Service officers, Foreign Service Reserve officers, and Foreign Service staff officers and employees permanently or temporarily assigned to posts involving extraordinarily difficult living conditions, excessive physical hardship, or notably unhealthful conditions, which posts shall be known as "Foreign Service Differential Posts", 3. Section 402 of the said Executive Order No. 10000, as amended, and section 403 of that order are hereby revoked: Provided, that existing rules and regulations pertaining to the payment of salary differentials to Foreign Service staff officers and employees serving at designated Foreign Service Differential Posts shall remain in effect until superseded by action taken pursuant to this order. 4. Section 503 of the said Executive Order No. 10000, as amended is hereby amended to read as follows: SEC. 503. Designation and Cancellation of Designation of Unhealthful Posts. The Secretary of State is hereby authorized and empowered to exercise the authority vested in the President by section 853 of the Foreign Service Act of 1946, as amended, to establish from time to time a list of places which by reason of climatic or other extreme conditions are to be classed as unhealthful posts. The Secretary is also authorized and empowered to cancel the designation of any such places as unhealthful. Each place designated as unhealthful by the Secretary hereunder shall be so designated as of January 1, 1942, or as of a later date to be fixed by the Secretary. The provisions of sections 501 and 502 of this Executive Order shall be subject to the authority delegated to the Secretary of State by this section. 5. Paragraph 1 (a) of Executive Order No. 10011 of October 22, 1948, authorizing the Secretary of State to exercise certain powers of the President with respect to the granting of allowances and allotments to Government personnel on foreign duty, is hereby amended to read as follows: (a) The authority vested in the President by section 901 of the Foreign Service Act of 1946 (60 Stat. 1025; 22 U.S.C. 1131), as amended by section 10 of the Foreign Service Act Amendments of 1955 (69 Stat. 27), to prescribe regulations governing the granting of (1) allowances, wherever Government-owned or rented quarters are not available, for living quarters, heat, light, fuel, gas, and electricity, including allowances for the cost of lodging at temporary quarters, authorized by paragraph (1) of the said section; (2) cost-of-living allowances authorized by paragraph (2) of the said section, as amended; and (3) allowances in order to provide for the proper representation of the United States by officers and employees of the Foreign Service, authorized by paragraph (3) of the said section. This order shall be effective as of July 1, 1955. DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

THE WHITE HOUSE, #signature

July 23, 1955.

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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 10903—Delegating Authority of the President With Respect to Regulations Relating to Certain Allowances and Benefits to Government Personnel on Overseas Duty
Dwight D. Eisenhower • 1961-01-09
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Scholarly & Legal Citations 

Exec. Order No. 10,623 (July 23, 1955), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-10623-amendment-certain-provisions-executive-orders-no-10000-and-no-10011.