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Executive Order 11145 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 5th Amend: Regulatory Execution with Due Process

Executive Order 11145—Providing for a Curator of the White House and Establishing a Committee for the Preservation of the White House

Lyndon B. Johnson

•

Saturday, March 7, 1964

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3 min read (651 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 3 min read (651 words) • ● In Effect

🎯 Primary Mandate

There shall be in the White House a Curator of the White House.

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

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 Lyndon B. Johnson on March 7, 1964, this order concerns Providing for a Curator of the White House and Establishing a Committee for the Preservation of the White House. There shall be in the White House a Curator of the White House. The Curator shall assist in the preservation and protection of the articles of furniture, fixtures, and decorative objects used or displayed in the principal corridor on the ground floor and the principal public rooms on the first floor of the White House, and in such other areas in the White House as the President may designate.

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 shall be in the White House a Curator of the White House.

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The Curator shall assist in the preservation and protection of the articles of furniture, fixtures, and decorative objects used or displayed in the principal corridor on the ground floor and the principal public rooms on the first floor of the White House, and in such other areas in the White House as the President may designate.

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The Curator shall report to the President and shall make recommendations with respect to the articles, fixtures, and objects to be declared by the President, under section 2 of the Act of September 22, 1961, to be of historic or artistic interest.

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There is hereby established the Committee for the Preservation of the White House, hereinafter referred to as the "Committee".

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners

Policy Areas & Topics

🏷️ Uncategorized

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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)

"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

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

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

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.

⚖️ Discretionary Twilight Zone

41 / 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

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

Moderate Friction

Applies regulatory or compliance standards to private contractors or commercial entities.

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%).

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

651

3,974 characters

Estimated Read Time

3 min

@ 200 words / min

Flesch-Kincaid

19.2

Post-Graduate Legal

Language Tone Score

+0.02

Constitutional Neutral

How is this scored?

Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

📑Sections Outline (4 sections)

Sec. 1 Sec. 2 Sec. 3 Sec. 4

WHEREAS the White House, as the home of the highest elective officer of the United States —symbolizes the American ideal of responsible self-government —is emblematic of our democracy and our national purpose —has been intimately associated with the personal and social life of the Presidents of the United States and many of their official acts —occupies a particular place in the heart of every American citizen, and WHEREAS certain historic rooms and entranceways in the White House —possess great human interest and historic significance —traditionally have been open to visitors —have provided pleasure and patriotic inspiration to millions of our citizens —have come to be regarded as a public museum and the proud possession of all Americans, and WHEREAS the Congress by law (Act of September 22, 1961), (75 Stat. 586) has authorized the care and preservation of the historic and artistic contents of the White House and has given the President certain responsibilities with regard thereto:

NOW, THEREFORE, #now-therefore

by virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States, it is ordered as follows:

Section 1. #sec-1

(a) There shall be in the White House a Curator of the White House. The Curator shall assist in the preservation and protection of the articles of furniture, fixtures, and decorative objects used or displayed in the principal corridor on the ground floor and the principal public rooms on the first floor of the White House, and in such other areas in the White House as the President may designate. (b) The Curator shall report to the President and shall make recommendations with respect to the articles, fixtures, and objects to be declared by the President, under section 2 of the Act of September 22, 1961, to be of historic or artistic interest.

Sec. 2. #sec-2

There is hereby established the Committee for the Preservation of the White House, hereinafter referred to as the "Committee". The Committee shall be composed of the Director of the National Park Service, the Curator of the White House, the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, the Chairman of the Commission of Fine Arts, the Director of the National Gallery of Art, the Chief Usher of the White House, and seven other members to be appointed by the President. The Director of the National Park Service shall serve as Chairman of the Committee and shall designate an employee of that Service to act as Executive Secretary of the Committee. Members of the Committee shall serve without compensation.

Sec. 3. #sec-3

(a) The Committee shall report to the President and shall advise the Director of the National Park Service with respect to the discharge of his responsibility under the Act of September 22, 1961, for the preservation and the interpretation of the museum character of the principal corridor on the ground floor and the principal public rooms on the first floor of the White House. Among other things, the Committee shall make recommendations as to the articles of furniture, fixtures, and decorative objects which shall be used or displayed in the aforesaid areas of the White House and as to the decor and arrangements therein best suited to enhance the historic and artistic values of the White House and of such articles, fixtures, and objects. (b) The Committee shall cooperate with the White House Historical Association, a nonprofit organization heretofore formed under the laws of the District of Columbia. (c) The Committee is authorized to invite individuals who are distinguished or interested in the fine arts to attend its meetings or otherwise to assist in carrying out its functions.

Sec. 4. #sec-4

Consonant with law, each Federal department and agency represented on the Committee shall furnish necessary assistance to the Committee in accordance with section 214 of the Act of May 3, 1945, 59 Stat. 134 (31 U.S.C. 691). The Department of the Interior shall furnish necessary administrative services for the Committee. LYNDON B. JOHNSON The White House, March 7, 1964

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Referenced By Later Executive Orders (6)

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

Amends Continuance of Certain Federal Advisory Committees

Donald Trump • 2025-09-29

Amends Executive Order 14109—Continuance of Certain Federal Advisory Committees and Amendments to Other Executive Orders

Joseph R. Biden, Jr. • 2023-09-29

Amends Executive Order 14048—Continuance or Reestablishment of Certain Federal Advisory Committees and Amendments to Other Executive Orders

Joseph R. Biden, Jr. • 2021-09-30

Amends Executive Order 13889—Continuance of Certain Federal Advisory Committees

Donald J. Trump (1st Term) • 2019-09-27

Amends Executive Order 13811—Continuance of Certain Federal Advisory Committees

Donald J. Trump (1st Term) • 2017-09-29

Amends Executive Order 13708—Continuance or Reestablishment of Certain Federal Advisory Committees

Barack Obama • 2015-09-30

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 11,145 (Mar. 7, 1964), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-11145-providing-for-curator-the-white-house-and-establishing-committee-for.