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Executive Orders Historical Archive
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Executive Order 10717 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 5th Amend: Regulatory Execution with Due Process

Executive Order 10717—The President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight D. Eisenhower
•
Thursday, June 27, 1957
•
3 min read (684 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 3 min read (684 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

There is hereby established an honorary award for the recognition of distinguished service by civilian officers and employees of the Federal Government.

View all 4 directives ↓
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight
Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
📜 5th Amend: Regulatory Execution with Due Process
Framers' constitutional debate ↓
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants Private Citizens & Property Owners Financial Institutions & Monetary Authorities
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 June 27, 1957, this order concerns The President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service. There is hereby established an honorary award for the recognition of distinguished service by civilian officers and employees of the Federal Government. The award shall be known as the President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service, and shall consist of a gold medal, the design of which accompanies and is hereby made a part of this order, suspended on a ribbon of appropriate material and color, and…

Constitutional Assessment: Evaluated against the Fifth Amendment, this action touches upon property or economic rights. An early statesman would insist upon strict adherence to due process of law and the constitutional guarantee that private holdings shall not be encumbered or taken for public purposes without just compensation and lawful process.

Key Directives & Operative Actions

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There is hereby established an honorary award for the recognition of distinguished service by civilian officers and employees of the Federal Government.

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The award shall be known as the President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service, and shall consist of a gold medal, the design of which accompanies and is hereby made a part of this order, suspended on a ribbon of appropriate material and color, and accompanying appurtenances.

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Each medal shall be suitably inscribed, and an appropriate citation shall accompany each award.

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The President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service shall be presented by the President to civilian officers or employees of the Federal Government for exceptionally meritorious or outstanding civilian service performed in connection with or in relation to their official employment.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners 🏛️ Financial Institutions & Monetary Authorities

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 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

"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: Defends Vigor & Dispatch
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: High Bill of Rights Scrutiny
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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
69 / 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

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

High Friction

Scrutinized under the Bill of Rights for potential impact on private contracts, property rights, or procedural due process.

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 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
684
4,176 characters
Estimated Read Time
3 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
15.3
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 the Government Employees' Incentive Awards Act, approved September 1, 1954 (68 Stat. 1112), and as President of the United States, it is ordered as follows: SECTION 1. There is hereby established an honorary award for the recognition of distinguished service by civilian officers and employees of the Federal Government. The award shall be known as the President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service, and shall consist of a gold medal, the design of which accompanies and is hereby made a part of this order, suspended on a ribbon of appropriate material and color, and accompanying appurtenances. Each medal shall be suitably inscribed, and an appropriate citation shall accompany each award. SEC. 2. The President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service shall be presented by the President to civilian officers or employees of the Federal Government for exceptionally meritorious or outstanding civilian service performed in connection with or in relation to their official employment. Presentation of the award shall be made at such times as the President may determine; but not more than five awards shall be made in any one year. An award involving a group achievement shall be considered as a single award. SEC. 3. There is hereby established the Distinguished Civilian Service Awards Board (hereinafter referred to as the Board), which shall consist of five members, appointed by the President from the Federal civilian service. The Chairman of the Board shall be designated by the President from the membership of the Board. SEC. 4. The terms of service of the members of the Board shall be four years, except that the first term of service of two of the original members, other than the Chairman, shall be two years instead of four years. Any member appointed to fill a vacancy on the Board occurring prior to the expiration of the term of his predecessor shall be appointed for the remainder of such term. SEC. 5. The members of the Board shall serve as such without additional compensation. The Chairman of the Civil Service Commission, or his designated representative, shall serve as Executive Secretary of the Board, and the Civil Service Commission is requested to furnish the Board the necessary staff and other services. SEC. 6. The Board shall advise and assist the President in the selection of persons to whom the award shall be tendered. In performing its functions, the Board shall carefully review recommendations submitted to it and decide which of them, if any, warrant presentation to the President, and shall transmit to the President, for his consideration, the names of those persons deemed by it to merit the award, together with its reasons therefor. Recipients for the award shall be selected by the President. SEC. 7. Recommendations for the award may be made by the heads of executive departments and agencies. Each recommendation shall be made personally by the head of the department or agency in which the proposed recipient of the award is employed, and shall be submitted, with appropriate supporting material, to the Board for its consideration. SEC. 8. The Board shall be guided in the performance of its functions by the provisions of subsections (b) and (c) of section 304 of the Government Employees Incentive Awards Act, and by criteria and procedures established by it with the approval of the President. Such criteria shall include, but not be limited to, the following: (a) The significance and importance of the contribution to the Government or the public interest shall be so outstanding or exceptional that, in the opinion of the Board, the officer or employee is deserving of greater public commendation and official recognition than that which can be accorded by the head of the department or agency in which he is employed. (b) Awards shall be made only to civilian career officers or employees of the Government, or to officers or employees whose Federal service, in the opinion of the Board, can reasonably be considered as career service. Sac. 9. This order shall become effective on July 1, 1957. DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

THE WHITE HOUSE, #signature

June 27, 1957.

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Referenced By Later Executive Orders (3)

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

Amends Executive Order 12014—President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service
Jimmy Carter • 1977-10-19
References Executive Order 11085—The Presidential Medal of Freedom
John F. Kennedy • 1963-02-22
Amends Executive Order 10979—Amendment of Executive Order No. 10717, Establishing the President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service
John F. Kennedy • 1961-12-12
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Scholarly & Legal Citations 

Exec. Order No. 10,717 (June 27, 1957), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-10717-the-presidents-award-for-distinguished-federal-civilian-service.