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Executive Orders Historical Archive
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Executive Order 10729 🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. I §8: Delegated Tariff & Commerce Execution

Executive Order 10729—Special Assistant to the President for Personnel Management

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Monday, September 16, 1957
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3 min read (622 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 3 min read (622 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

There shall be in the White House Office an official who shall be appointed by the President, shall have the title "Special Assistant to the President for Personnel Management," and shall receive compensation at such rate as the President, consonant with law, may prescribe.

⚖️ Constitutional Footing
🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority
Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
📜 Art. I §8: Delegated Tariff & Commerce Execution
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants

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 September 16, 1957, this order concerns Special Assistant to the President for Personnel Management. There shall be in the White House Office an official who shall be appointed by the President, shall have the title "Special Assistant to the President for Personnel Management," and shall receive compensation at such rate as the President, consonant with law, may prescribe. SEC. 2.

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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There shall be in the White House Office an official who shall be appointed by the President, shall have the title "Special Assistant to the President for Personnel Management," and shall receive compensation at such rate as the President, consonant with law, may prescribe.

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The Special Assistant to the President for Personnel Management shall: (a) Assist the President in the execution of his duties with respect to personnel management, and advise and assist the President concerning personnel-management actions to be taken by or under the direction of the President, exclusive of actions with respect to Presidential appointments.

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Subject to the provisions of subsection (b) of this section, the United States Civil Service Commission or the Chairman thereof, as the case may be, shall, in performing the following, consult with the Special Assistant to the President for Personnel Management: (1) Any function vested by law in the President and by him delegated or otherwise assigned to the United States Civil Service Commission or to the Chairman thereof, and (2) any function vested by law in the said Commission or in the said Chairman which (1) is required by law to be performed with or subject to the approval, ratification, or other action of the President, and (ii) has been authorized by the President to be performed without his approval, ratification, or other action.

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All rules, regulations, policies, determinations, instructions, requirements, or other actions of the United States Civil Service Commission or of the Chairman thereof, as the case may be, relating to any of the functions described in section 3 (a) of this order and in effect on the date of this order shall remain in effect until, and except as, hereafter revoked, amended, modified, or superseded by proper authority.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants
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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
51 / 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

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
622
3,995 characters
Estimated Read Time
3 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
22.8
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 as President of the United States, it is hereby ordered as follows: SECTION 1. There shall be in the White House Office an official who shall be appointed by the President, shall have the title "Special Assistant to the President for Personnel Management," and shall receive compensation at such rate as the President, consonant with law, may prescribe. SEC. 2. The Special Assistant to the President for Personnel Management shall: (a) Assist the President in the execution of his duties with respect to personnel management, and advise and assist the President concerning personnel-management actions to be taken by or under the direction of the President, exclusive of actions with respect to Presidential appointments. (b) Assist the President in the formulation and execution of his civilian personnel-management program, the establishment of policies and standards for the executive departments and agencies relating to the said program, and the evaluation of departmental and agency personnel-management programs and operations under such policies and standards. (c) Assist the President in keeping informed with respect to activities of and developments in the executive departments and agencies which affect, or tend to determine, the personnel-management policies of the executive departments and agencies. (d) Undertake on behalf of the President, and in collaboration with the Bureau of the Budget, a program designed to raise the level of effectiveness of personnel management in the executive departments and agencies, to improve steadily all personnel-management systems, and to bring about the proper coordination in personnel management among the executive departments and agencies. SEC. 3. (a) Subject to the provisions of subsection (b) of this section, the United States Civil Service Commission or the Chairman thereof, as the case may be, shall, in performing the following, consult with the Special Assistant to the President for Personnel Management: (1) Any function vested by law in the President and by him delegated or otherwise assigned to the United States Civil Service Commission or to the Chairman thereof, and (2) any function vested by law in the said Commission or in the said Chairman which (1) is required by law to be performed with or subject to the approval, ratification, or other action of the President, and (ii) has been authorized by the President to be performed without his approval, ratification, or other action. (b) The Special Assistant to the President for Personnel Management may, from time to time and partly or wholly, (1) exclude any specific matter or matters from the operation of the provisions of subsection (a) of this section, and (2) terminate any exclusion effected under this subsection (b). (c) All rules, regulations, policies, determinations, instructions, requirements, or other actions of the United States Civil Service Commission or of the Chairman thereof, as the case may be, relating to any of the functions described in section 3 (a) of this order and in effect on the date of this order shall remain in effect until, and except as, hereafter revoked, amended, modified, or superseded by proper authority. SEC. 4. The Special Assistant to the President for Personnel Management shall perform his functions under this order with the assistance of such personnel of the White House Office as may be provided for that purpose, and, as may be appropriate, with the assistance of designated personnel of executive departments and agencies. SEC. 5. As used herein, the term "function" embraces duty, power, responsibility, authority, and discretion, and the term "performing" may be construed to mean exercising. SEC. 6. Executive Order No. 10452 of May 1, 1953, entitled "Providing for the Performance by the Chairman of the Civil Service Commission of Certain Functions Relating to Personnel Management", is hereby revoked. DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

THE WHITE HOUSE, #signature

September 16, 1957.

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Referenced By Later Executive Orders (1)

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

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 10,729 (Sept. 16, 1957), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-10729-special-assistant-the-president-for-personnel-management.