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Executive Order 10693 🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 10th Amend: Intergovernmental Federalism Cooperation

Executive Order 10693—Creating an Emergency Board To Investigate Disputes Between the Akron & Barberton Belt Railroad and Other Carriers and Certain of Their Employees

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight D. Eisenhower
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Saturday, December 22, 1956
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6 min read (1,167 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 6 min read (1,167 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

I hereby create a board of three members, to be appointed by me, to investigate the said disputes.

View all 3 directives ↓
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority
Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
📜 10th Amend: Intergovernmental Federalism Cooperation
Framers' constitutional debate ↓
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Sovereign State Governments & Localities
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 December 22, 1956, this order concerns Creating an Emergency Board To Investigate Disputes Between the Akron & Barberton Belt Railroad and Other Carriers and Certain of Their Employees. I hereby create a board of three members, to be appointed by me, to investigate the said disputes. No member of the said board shall be pecuniarily or otherwise interested in any organization of employees or any carrier. The board shall report its findings to the President with respect to the said disputes within thirty days from the date of this order.

Constitutional Assessment: Reviewed under the Tenth Amendment and the principle of dual federalism, this order touches upon domains traditionally reserved to the sovereign States. The Framers would caution against any attempt to commandeer state officers or displace local police powers through federal executive fiat.

Key Directives & Operative Actions

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I hereby create a board of three members, to be appointed by me, to investigate the said disputes.

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The board shall report its findings to the President with respect to the said disputes within thirty days from the date of this order.

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As provided by section 10 of the Railway Labor Act, as amended, from this date and for thirty days after the board has made its report to the President, no change, except by agreement, shall be made by the Akron & Barberton Belt Railroad Company and other carriers represented by the Eastern, Western and Southeastern Carriers' Conference Committees or their employees in the conditions out of which the said disputes arose.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Sovereign State Governments & Localities

Policy Areas & Topics

🏷️ Infrastructure & Transportation 🏷️ Labor & Employment
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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

"A feeble Executive implies a feeble execution of the government; and a government ill executed, whatever it may be in theory, must be, in practice, a bad government." — Federalist No. 70 (1788)

Hamilton would view this directive as the natural and indispensable functioning of administrative leadership. Without the power to coordinate agencies, manage personnel, and resolve operational ambiguities, the modern presidency would be reduced to an impotent figurehead.

Hamiltonian Stance: Supportive of Execution
GM

George Mason

Bill of Rights, Due Process & 10th Amendment

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." — 10th Amendment to the US Constitution (1791)

Mason would scrutinize whether this federal directive intrudes into police powers, land stewardship, or municipal domains historically reserved to local citizens. The Anti-Federalist demand is that federal administration must never supplant state self-governance.

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.

🛡️ High Constitutional Concordance
23 / 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

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 in close harmony with statutory authority and standard Article II supervisory execution.

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
1,167
7,949 characters
Estimated Read Time
6 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
12.3
High School
Language Tone Score
+0.02
Constitutional Neutral
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

WHEREAS disputes exist between the Akron & Barberton Belt Railroad and other carriers represented by the Eastern, Western and Southeastern Carriers' Conference Committees, designated in list attached hereto and made a part hereof, and certain of their employees represented by the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, a labor organization; and WHEREAS these disputes have not heretofore been adjusted under the provisions of the Railway Labor Act, as amended; and WHEREAS these disputes, in the judgment of the National Mediation Board, threaten substantially to interrupt interstate commerce to a degree such as to deprive the country of essential transportation service:

NOW, THEREFORE, #now-therefore

by virtue of the authority vested in me by section 10 of the Railway Labor Act, as amended (45 U.S.C. 160), I hereby create a board of three members, to be appointed by me, to investigate the said disputes. No member of the said board shall be pecuniarily or otherwise interested in any organization of employees or any carrier. The board shall report its findings to the President with respect to the said disputes within thirty days from the date of this order. As provided by section 10 of the Railway Labor Act, as amended, from this date and for thirty days after the board has made its report to the President, no change, except by agreement, shall be made by the Akron & Barberton Belt Railroad Company and other carriers represented by the Eastern, Western and Southeastern Carriers' Conference Committees or their employees in the conditions out of which the said disputes arose. DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

THE WHITE HOUSE, #signature

December 22, 1956. EASTERN RAILROADS Akron & Barberton Belt Railroad Company Akron, Canton & Youngstown Railroad Co. Ann Arbor Railroad Co. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Co. Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh Territory Buffalo and Susquehanna District Baltimore & Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad Co. Curtis Bay Railroad Staten Island Rapid Transit Railway Co. Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad Co. Boston & Maine Railroad Co. Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal Bush Terminal Railroad Canadian National Railways Canadian National Lines in New England Canadian National Railways in the State of New York United States & Canada Railroad Champlain & St. Lawrence Railroad St. Clair Tunnel Company Central Railroad Company of New Jersey New York & Long Branch Railroad Co. Central Vermont Railway, Inc. Chicago Union Station Co. Cincinnati Union Terminal Co. Cuyahoga Valley Railway Co. Delaware & Hudson Railroad Corp. Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad Co. Detroit and Toledo Shore Line Railroad Co. Detroit Terminal Railroad Co. Detroit, Toledo & Ironton Railroad Co. Donora Southern Railroad Co. Erie Railroad Co. Grand Trunk Western Railroad Co. Hoboken Shore Railroad Lake Terminal Railroad Co. Lehigh & New England Railroad Co. Lehigh Valley Railroad Co. Long Island Railroad Co. Maine Central Railroad Co. Portland Terminal Co. McKeesport Connecting Railroad Co. Monon Railroad Monongahela Railway Co. Newburgh & South Shore Railway Co. New York Central System New York Central Railroad Co. Eastern District (excl. Boston Division) Boston Division Western District Ohio Central Division Northern District Southern District L & J B & R R Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad Co. Chicago River & Indiana Railroad Co. Chicago Junction Railway Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad Co. Lake Erie & Eastern Railroad Co. Cleveland Union Terminals Co. New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad Co. New York Dock Railway Co. New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Co. New York, Susquehanna & Western Railroad Co. Pennsylvania Railroad Co. Baltimore & Eastern Railroad Co. Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines Pittsburgh, Chartiers & Youghiogheny Railway Co. Reading Company River Terminal Railway Co. Toledo Terminal Railroad Co. Union Railroad Co. Upper Merion & Plymouth Railroad Co. Washington Terminal Company Western Maryland Railway Co. Youngstown & Northern Railroad Co. WESTERN RAILROADS Alton and Southern Railroad Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway The Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway Panhandle and Santa Fe Railway Belt Railway Co., of Chicago, The Camas Prairie Railroad Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad Chicago & Illinois Midland Railway Chicago and North Western Railway Chicago and Western Indiana Railroad Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Chicago, Great Western Railway Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway Colorado and Southern Railway, The Colorado and Wyoming Railway, The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, The Des Moines Union Railway Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railroad Duluth Union Depot and Transfer Co. Duluth, Winnipeg & Pacific Railway East St. Louis Junction Railroad Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway Fort Worth and Denver Railway Joint Texas Division of CRI&P Railroad & FtW&D Railway Galveston, Houston and Henderson Railroad Great Northern Railway Green Bay and Western Railroad Kewaunee, Green Bay and Western Railroad Houston Belt & Terminal Railway Illinois Central Railroad Chicago and Illinois Western Railroad Illinois Northern Railway Illinois Terminal Railroad Kansas City Southern Railway, The Kansas City Terminal Railway King Street Passenger Station (Seattle) Litchfield and Madison Railway Los Angeles Junction Louisiana & Arkansas Railway Manufacturers Railway Midland Valley Railroad Kansas, Oklahoma & Gulf Railway Minneapolis & St. Louis Railway, The Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railroad Minnesota Transfer Railway, The Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad Co. of Texas Missouri Pacific Railroad Missouri Pacific Railroad (Gulf District) Missouri-Illinois Railroad Northern Pacific Railway Northwestern Pacific Railroad Ogden Union Railway and Depot Co., The Peoria and Pekin Union Railway Port Terminal Railroad Association St. Joseph Terminal Railroad St. Louis-San Francisco Railway St. Louis, San Francisco & Texas Railway St. Louis Southwestern Railway San Diego & Arizona Eastern Railway Southern Pacific Co. (Pac. Lines) (Excl. Former El Paso & Southwestern System) Southern Pacific Co. (Pac. Lines) (Former El Paso & Southwestern System) Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway Oregon Trunk Railway Oregon Electric Railway Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis Texas and New Orleans Railroad Texas and Pacific Railway, The Abilene and Southern Railway Fort Worth Belt Railway Texas-New Mexico Railway Texas Short Line Railway Weatherford, Mineral Wells and Northwestern Railway Texas Mexican Railway, The TP-MP Terminal of New Orleans Toledo, Peoria & Western Railroad Union Pacific Railroad Union Railway Co. (Memphis) Union Terminal Co. (Dallas) Wabash Railroad--Lines West of Detroit Wabash Railroad--Lines East of Detroit Western Pacific Railroad SOUTHEASTERN RAILROADS Atlanta & West Point Western Railway of Alabama Atlanta Joint Terminals Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Birmingham Southern Railroad Central of Georgia Railway Charleston & Western Carolina Railway Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Clinchfield Railroad Florida East Coast Railway (In trusteeship. Any commitment subject to court approval) Georgia Railroad Gulf, Mobile & Ohio Railroad Jacksonville Terminal Company Kentucky & Indiana Terminal Railroad Louisville & Nashville Railroad Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway Norfolk & Portsmouth Belt Line Norfolk & Western Railway Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad Potomac Yard Seaboard Air Line Railway Company Southern Railway Alabama Great Southern Railway Company Cincinnati, New Orleans & Texas Pacific Railway Georgia Southern & Florida Railway Harriman & Northeastern Railroad Company New Orleans & Northeastern Railroad New Orleans Terminal Company St. Johns River Terminal Company (Includes State University R. R. and East St. Louis Terminal) Tennessee Central Railway Company Virginian Railway Company

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Scholarly & Legal Citations 

Exec. Order No. 10,693 (Dec. 22, 1956), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-10693-creating-emergency-board-investigate-disputes-between-the-akron.