Executive Order 10977 Constitutional Neutral (+0.02)

Executive Order 10977—Establishing the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal

•

Monday, December 4, 1961

•

2 min read (335 words)

Plain-English Translation & Framers' Constitutional Analysis

Early Statesman synthesis distilling legal jargon into practical meaning, statutory anchors, and structural constitutional impacts.

This executive order, signed by President John F. Kennedy on 1961-12-04, establishes federal administrative policy concerning "Establishing the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal." It outlines operative directives for executive department officers, delegating enforcement responsibilities and establishing official governance guidelines.

Constitutional Assessment: Scrutinized through Article II, Section 2, this action exercises the President's constitutional role as Commander in Chief. Early Framers recognized broad executive discretion in commanding military forces during conflict, provided it remains bounded by congressional declarations and respects civilian domestic courts.

Key Directives & Operative Actions

▪ The medal, with ribbons and appurtenances, shall be of appropriate design approved by the Secretary of' Defense and shall be awarded by the Secretary of the military department directly concerned, and by the Secretary of the Treasury with respect to the United States Coast Guard, under uniform regulations to be issued by the Secretary of Defense.

▪ The medal shall be awarded only for operations for which no other United States campaign medal is approved.

▪ For operations in which personnel of only one military department participate, the medal shall be awarded only if there is no other suitable award available to that department.

▪ No more than one medal shall be awarded to any one person, but for each succeeding operation justifying such award a suitable device may be awarded to be worn on the medal or ribbon as prescribed by appropriate regulations.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Foreign Nations & International Entities 🏛️ Financial Institutions & Monetary Authorities

Total Words

335

2,021 characters

Estimated Read Time

2 min

@ 200 words / min

Flesch-Kincaid

21.3

Post-Grad reading level

Constitutional Polarity

+0.02

Framers' Alignment index

📜

Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 10977, John F. Kennedy (Dec 4, 1961). Available at https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-10977-establishing-the-armed-forces-expeditionary-medal.

Official Document Text

Source: The American Presidency Project (UCSB Archive)

Original Source →

By virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States and as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States, it is hereby ordered as follows: SECTION 1. There is hereby established the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, with ribbons and appurtenances, for award to personnel of the Armed Forces of the United States who after July 1, 1958: (a) Participate, or have participated, as members of United States military units in a United States military operation in which personnel of any military department participate, in the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in significant numbers; and (b) Encounter, incident to such participation, foreign armed opposition, or are otherwise placed, or have been placed, in such position that, in the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, hostile action by foreign armed forces was imminent even though it did not materialize. SEC. 2. The medal, with ribbons and appurtenances, shall be of appropriate design approved by the Secretary of' Defense and shall be awarded by the Secretary of the military department directly concerned, and by the Secretary of the Treasury with respect to the United States Coast Guard, under uniform regulations to be issued by the Secretary of Defense. SEC. 3. The medal shall be awarded only for operations for which no other United States campaign medal is approved. For operations in which personnel of only one military department participate, the medal shall be awarded only if there is no other suitable award available to that department. No more than one medal shall be awarded to any one person, but for each succeeding operation justifying such award a suitable device may be awarded to be worn on the medal or ribbon as prescribed by appropriate regulations. SEC. 4. The medal may be awarded posthumously and, when so awarded, may be presented to such representative of the deceased as may be deemed appropriate by the Secretary of the department concerned. JOHN F. KENNEDY THE WHITE HOUSE, December 4, 1961