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Executive Orders Historical Archive
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Executive Order 11048 Partially superseded ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 11048—Administration of Wake Island and Midway Island

John F. Kennedy John F. Kennedy
•
Tuesday, September 4, 1962
•
3 min read (667 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 3 min read (667 words) • ● Partially superseded
🎯 Primary Mandate

The Secretary of the Interior shall be responsible for the civil administration of Wake Island and all executive and legislative authority necessary for that administration, and all judicial authority respecting Wake Island other than the authority contained in the act of June 15, 1950 (64 Stat. 217), as amended (48 U.S.C. 644a), shall be vested in the Secretary of the Interior.

View all 4 directives ↓
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight
Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
Framers' constitutional debate ↓
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Armed Forces & Military Establishments Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants Private Citizens & Property Owners
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 John F. Kennedy on September 4, 1962, this order concerns Administration of Wake Island and Midway Island. Island SECTION 101. The Secretary of the Interior shall be responsible for the civil administration of Wake Island and all executive and legislative authority necessary for that administration, and all judicial authority respecting Wake Island other than the authority contained in the act of June 15, 1950 (64 Stat. 217), as amended (48 U.S.C. 644a), shall be vested in the Secretary of the Interior. SEC. 102.

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

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The Secretary of the Interior shall be responsible for the civil administration of Wake Island and all executive and legislative authority necessary for that administration, and all judicial authority respecting Wake Island other than the authority contained in the act of June 15, 1950 (64 Stat. 217), as amended (48 U.S.C. 644a), shall be vested in the Secretary of the Interior.

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The executive, legislative, and judicial authority provided for in section 101 of this order (1) may be exercised through such agency or agencies of the Department of the Interior, or through such officers or employees under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior, as the Secretary may direct or authorize, (2) may be exercised through such agency or agencies, other than or not in the Department of the Interior, or through such officers or employees of the United States not under the administrative supervision of the Secretary, for such time and under such conditions as may be agreed upon between the Secretary and such agency, agencies, officers or employees of the United States, and (3) shall be exercised in such manner as the…

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Executive Order No. 6935 of December 29, 1934, to the extent that it pertains to Wake Island, is hereby superseded.

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The Secretary of the Navy shall be responsible for the civil administration of Midway Island and all executive and legislative authority necessary for that administration, and all judicial authority respecting Midway Island other than the authority contained in the act of June 15, 1950 (64 Stat. 217), as amended (48 U.S.C. 644a), shall be vested in the Secretary of the Navy.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners

Policy Areas & Topics

🏷️ National Security & Defense
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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

"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: Strong Prerogative Support
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
30 / 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

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 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
667
4,035 characters
Estimated Read Time
3 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
15.2
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 section 48 of the Hawaii Omnibus Act (approved July 12, 1960; 74 Stat. 424; P.L. 86-624) and section 301 of title 3 of the United States Code, and as President of the United States, it is hereby ordered as follows: Part I--Wake Island SECTION 101. The Secretary of the Interior shall be responsible for the civil administration of Wake Island and all executive and legislative authority necessary for that administration, and all judicial authority respecting Wake Island other than the authority contained in the act of June 15, 1950 (64 Stat. 217), as amended (48 U.S.C. 644a), shall be vested in the Secretary of the Interior. SEC. 102. The executive, legislative, and judicial authority provided for in section 101 of this order (1) may be exercised through such agency or agencies of the Department of the Interior, or through such officers or employees under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior, as the Secretary may direct or authorize, (2) may be exercised through such agency or agencies, other than or not in the Department of the Interior, or through such officers or employees of the United States not under the administrative supervision of the Secretary, for such time and under such conditions as may be agreed upon between the Secretary and such agency, agencies, officers or employees of the United States, and (3) shall be exercised in such manner as the Secretary, or any person or persons acting under the authority of the Secretary, may direct or authorize. SEC. 103. Executive Order No. 6935 of December 29, 1934, to the extent that it pertains to Wake Island, is hereby superseded. Part II--Midway Island SECTION 201. The Secretary of the Navy shall be responsible for the civil administration of Midway Island and all executive and legislative authority necessary for that administration, and all judicial authority respecting Midway Island other than the authority contained in the act of June 15, 1950 (64 Stat. 217), as amended (48 U.S.C. 644a), shall be vested in the Secretary of the Navy. SEC. 202. The executive, legislative, and judicial authority provided for in section 201 of this order shall be exercised through such agency or agencies of the Navy Department, or through such officers or employees under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Navy, as the Secretary may direct or authorize, and shall be exercised in such manner as the Secretary, or any person or persons acting under the authority of the Secretary, may direct or authorize. SEC. 203. Such public lands on the Midway Islands, Hawaiian group, between the parallels of 28°5' and 28°25' North latitude, and between the meridians of 177°10' and 177°30' West longitude, as were placed under the jurisdiction and control of the Navy Department by the provisions of Executive Order No. 199-A of January 20, 1903, are hereby continued under the jurisdiction and control of that Department. Executive Order No. 199-A is hereby superseded. Part Ill--Miscellaneous Provisions SECTION 301. The provisions of each of the foregoing Parts of this order shall continue in force until the Congress shall provide for the civil administration of the affected Island or until such earlier time as the President may specify. SEC. 302. As used herein, the terms "Wake Island" and "Midway Island" include the reefs appurtenant to, and the territorial waters of, Wake Island and Midway Island, respectively. SEC. 303. To the extent that any prior Executive order or proclamation is inconsistent with the provisions of this order, this order shall control. SEC. 304. This order shall not be deemed to affect Executive Order No. 9709 of March 29, 1946, or Executive Order No. 9797 of November 6, 1946. SEC. 305. Nothing in this order shall be deemed to reduce, limit, or otherwise modify the authority or responsibility of the Attorney General to represent the legal interests of the United States in civil or criminal cases arising under the provisions of the act of June 15, 1950. JOHN F. KENNEDY

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Referenced By Later Executive Orders (1)

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

References Executive Order 13022—Administration of the Midway Islands
William J. Clinton • 1996-10-31
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Scholarly & Legal Citations 

Exec. Order No. 11,048 (Sept. 4, 1962), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-11048-administration-wake-island-and-midway-island.