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Executive Order 10800 🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority Constitutional Fidelity (+0.33) 📜 10th Amend: Intergovernmental Federalism Cooperation

Executive Order 10800—Implementing the Government Employees Training Act

Dwight D. Eisenhower

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Thursday, January 15, 1959

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3 min read (657 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 3 min read (657 words) • ● In Effect

🎯 Primary Mandate

The head of each department shall, consonant with the Act, this order, and the regulations of the Civil Service Commission issued pursuant to the Act and section 5 of this order: (a) review periodically the immediate and long-range needs of the department for employee training and in so doing take special care to identify those instances in which training will increase the economy and efficiency of departmental operations; (b) formulate plans of action to meet such training needs; (c) establish and maintain, to the maximum extent feasible, needed training programs; (d) establish adequate administrative controls to insure that training improves the performance of employees, and contributes to the economy, efficiency, and effective…

View all 4 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 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 January 15, 1959, this order concerns Implementing the Government Employees Training Act. As used in this order, the term "Act" means the Government Employees Training Act (72 Stat. 327), and the terms "Government," "department," "employee," "Commission," and "training" have the meanings given to those terms, respectively, by section 3 of the Act. SEC. 2.

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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There is hereby delegated to the heads of departments, severally and in respect of the employees of the respective departments, the authority, vested in the President by section 3(7) of the Act, to designate foreign governments or international organizations, or instrumentalities of either, as eligible to provide training under the Act; provided that each such designation shall be made only after the department concerned has obtained and given due consideration to the advice of the Department of State thereon.

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The following-described functions, vested in the President by the Act, are hereby delegated to the Commission: (a) The authority, under section 4 (b) of the Act, (1) to designate any department or part thereof, or any employee or employees therein, as excepted from the Act or any provision of the Act other than sections 4, 19(c), 21, 22, and 23(a), and (2) to designate any such department or part thereof, or any such employee or employees therein, so excepted by the Commission, as again subject to the Act or any such provision of the Act.

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In performing functions vested in it by the Act or delegated to it by this order, the Commission shall consult with the Special Assistant to the President for Personnel Management.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

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

Policy Areas & Topics

🏷️ Economy & Finance

🏛️

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

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)

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

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.

⚖️ Discretionary Twilight Zone

45 / 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

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%).

ℹ️

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

657

4,105 characters

Estimated Read Time

3 min

@ 200 words / min

Flesch-Kincaid

28.1

Post-Graduate Legal

Language Tone Score

+0.33

Constitutional Fidelity

How is this scored?

Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

By virtue of the authority vested in me by section 301 of title 3 of the United States Code and by the Government Employees Training Act (72 Stat. 327), it is ordered as follows: SECTION 1. As used in this order, the term "Act" means the Government Employees Training Act (72 Stat. 327), and the terms "Government," "department," "employee," "Commission," and "training" have the meanings given to those terms, respectively, by section 3 of the Act. SEC. 2. The head of each department shall, consonant with the Act, this order, and the regulations of the Civil Service Commission issued pursuant to the Act and section 5 of this order: (a) review periodically the immediate and long-range needs of the department for employee training and in so doing take special care to identify those instances in which training will increase the economy and efficiency of departmental operations; (b) formulate plans of action to meet such training needs; (c) establish and maintain, to the maximum extent feasible, needed training programs; (d) establish adequate administrative controls to insure that training improves the performance of employees, and contributes to the economy, efficiency, and effective operation of the department and to the attainment of its program goals; (e) stimulate and encourage employee self-development and self-training; (f) utilize the training facilities and services of other departments to the extent practicable, provide training facilities and services to other departments when practical and without interference with the department's mission, and cooperate in the development of interdepartmental employee training activities; and (g) approve the acceptance of any contributions, awards, or payments to employees authorized by section 19(a) of the Act and regulations issued by the Commission pursuant to section 5(b) of this order only when the department head deems such contributions, awards or payments appropriate to meet reasonable costs incurred or to be incurred by the recipient incident to the training or attendance at a meeting and when, in the view of the department head, the purpose, amount and type of contribution, award or payment would not place or tend to place the recipient under any improper obligation to the grantor. SEC. 3. There is hereby delegated to the heads of departments, severally and in respect of the employees of the respective departments, the authority, vested in the President by section 3(7) of the Act, to designate foreign governments or international organizations, or instrumentalities of either, as eligible to provide training under the Act; provided that each such designation shall be made only after the department concerned has obtained and given due consideration to the advice of the Department of State thereon. SEC. 4. The following-described functions, vested in the President by the Act, are hereby delegated to the Commission: (a) The authority, under section 4 (b) of the Act, (1) to designate any department or part thereof, or any employee or employees therein, as excepted from the Act or any provision of the Act other than sections 4, 19(c), 21, 22, and 23(a), and (2) to designate any such department or part thereof, or any such employee or employees therein, so excepted by the Commission, as again subject to the Act or any such provision of the Act. (b) The authority, under section 19(a) of the Act, to fix by regulation the extent to which the contributions, awards, and payments referred to in the said section 19(a) may be made to and accepted by employees. SEC. 5. (a) In performing functions vested in it by the Act or delegated to it by this order, the Commission shall consult with the Special Assistant to the President for Personnel Management. (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). DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

THE WHITE HOUSE, #signature

January 15, 1959.

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Referenced By Later Executive Orders (3)

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

Revokes Executive Order 11348—Providing for the Further Training of Government Employees

Lyndon B. Johnson • 1967-04-20

Supersedes Executive Order 11228—Providing for the Performance by the Civil Service Commission of Certain Functions Vested in or Subject to the Approval of the President

Lyndon B. Johnson • 1965-06-14

Amends Executive Order 10805—Designating the Central Intelligence Agency as Excepted From Certain Provisions of the Government Employees Training Act

Dwight D. Eisenhower • 1959-02-18

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 10,800 (Jan. 15, 1959), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-10800-implementing-the-government-employees-training-act.