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Executive Order 11186 🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority Constitutional Fidelity (+0.33) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 11186—Establishing the Federal Development Planning Committee for Appalachia

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Friday, October 23, 1964
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4 min read (866 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 4 min read (866 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

There is hereby established the Federal Development Planning Committee for Appalachia (hereinafter referred to as the "Committee").

⚖️ Constitutional Footing
🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority
Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Armed Forces & Military Establishments Sovereign State Governments & Localities Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants Public Health & Medical Institutions

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 October 23, 1964, this order concerns Establishing the Federal Development Planning Committee for Appalachia. Establishment of Committee. (a) There is hereby established the Federal Development Planning Committee for Appalachia (hereinafter referred to as the "Committee"). (b) The Committee shall be composed of the following: (1) a Chairman, who shall be appointed by the President, (2) members, one of whom shall be designated by and represent each of the following-named officers, respectively: the Secretary of the…

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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There is hereby established the Federal Development Planning Committee for Appalachia (hereinafter referred to as the "Committee").

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The Committee shall be composed of the following: (1) a Chairman, who shall be appointed by the President, (2) members, one of whom shall be designated by and represent each of the following-named officers, respectively: the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, the Secretary of the Army, the Housing and Home Finance Administrator, and the Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity, and (3) a member who shall represent the Tennessee Valley Authority and shall be designated by the board of directors of the Authority.

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The Chairman may request any Federal agency head not referred to in subsection (b), above, to designate a representative to participate in meetings of the Committee concerned with matters of substantial interest to such agency head.

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The Chairman shall cooperate with representatives designated by the Governors of States in the Appalachian region in: (1) Fostering surveys and studies to provide data required for the preparation of plans and programs for the development of Appalachia; (2) Preparing coordinated plans for the development of Appalachia deemed appropriate to carry out existing statutory responsibilities of Federal, State, or local agencies.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Sovereign State Governments & Localities 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Public Health & Medical Institutions

Policy Areas & Topics

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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: 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
36 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8

Legislative Encroachment & Purse

Moderate Friction

Administers commerce or fiscal programs requiring ongoing statutory delegation and legislative oversight.

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%).
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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
866
5,606 characters
Estimated Read Time
4 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
23.1
Post-Graduate Legal
Language Tone Score
+0.33
Constitutional Fidelity
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

WHEREAS representatives of the Federal Government and of the Governors of the States in the Appalachian region have been cooperating in the preparation of plans and programs for the long-range development of Appalachia; and WHEREAS such plans have provided for coordinated action by Federal, State, and local agencies in carrying out programs to further the development of Appalachia and to facilitate and encourage private investment in that area; and WHEREAS the Governors of various States of the Appalachian region have requested that such cooperation be continued; and WHEREAS the proper discharge by the Federal Government of its responsibilities to the people of the Appalachian region requires that such cooperation be continued and that related planning activities of the Federal Government be effectively coordinated:

NOW, THEREFORE, #now-therefore

by virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States, it is ordered as follows: SECTION I. Establishment of Committee. (a) There is hereby established the Federal Development Planning Committee for Appalachia (hereinafter referred to as the "Committee"). (b) The Committee shall be composed of the following: (1) a Chairman, who shall be appointed by the President, (2) members, one of whom shall be designated by and represent each of the following-named officers, respectively: the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, the Secretary of the Army, the Housing and Home Finance Administrator, and the Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity, and (3) a member who shall represent the Tennessee Valley Authority and shall be designated by the board of directors of the Authority. (c) The Chairman may request any Federal agency head not referred to in subsection (b), above, to designate a representative to participate in meetings of the Committee concerned with matters of substantial interest to such agency head. SEC. 2. Functions of the Chairman. (a) The Chairman shall cooperate with representatives designated by the Governors of States in the Appalachian region in: (1) Fostering surveys and studies to provide data required for the preparation of plans and programs for the development of Appalachia; (2) Preparing coordinated plans for the development of Appalachia deemed appropriate to carry out existing statutory responsibilities of Federal, State, or local agencies. Such plans shall be designed to promote optimum benefits from the expenditure of Federal, State, and local funds and to facilitate and promote private investment in the development of Appalachia; and (3) Preparing legislative and other recommendations with respect to both short-range and long-range programs and projects for Federal, State, or local agencies. (b) With the approval of the agency head concerned the Chairman may arrange for recommended surveys and studies to be made by any Federal agency with respect to matters falling within the existing statutory authorities and responsibilities of that agency. SEC. 3. Functions of the Committee. The Committee shall: (a) Advise the Chairman with respect to (z) surveys and studies needed for the preparation of development plans, (2) the concrete proposals for surveys and studies developed by the Chairman in cooperation with the representatives of the Governors, and (3) desirable development objectives and programs for the Appalachian region. (b) Receive, review, and comment on all tentative development plans or other tentative recommendations developed by the Chairman in cooperation with the representatives of the Governors; and (c) Receive and consider final plans and recommendations and transmit them, with its own comments, to the President and the heads of interested Federal agencies. SEC. 4. Administrative arrangements. (a) If the Chairman of the Committee does not concurrently hold other compensated office or employment under the United States, he shall receive such compensation under this order as shall be fixed in accordance with the standards and procedures of the Classification Act of 1949, as amended. (b) The Department of Commerce is hereby designated as the agency which shall provide administrative services for the Committee and for the Chairman. (c) Each Federal agency the head of which is referred to in Section 1(b) of this order shall, as may be necessary, furnish assistance to the Committee in accordance with the provisions of Section 214 of the Act of May 3, 1945 (59 Stat. 134; 31 U.S.C. 691). (d) Each Federal agency shall, consonant with law and within the limits of available funds, cooperate with the Committee and with the Chairman in carrying out their functions under this order. Such cooperation shall include, as may be appropriate, (1) furnishing relevant available information, (2) making studies and preparing reports pursuant to requests of the Chairman, (3) in connection with the development of programs and priorities of the agency, giving full consideration to any plans and recommendations for the development of Appalachia, including recommendations made by the Committee, and (4) advising on the work of the Committee as the Chairman may from time to time request. SEC. 5. Construction. Nothing in this order shall be construed as subjecting any Federal agency, or any function vested by law in, or assigned pursuant to law to, any Federal agency, to the authority of the Committee or the Chairman, or as abrogating or restricting any such function in any manner. LYNDON B. JOHNSON The White House, October 23, 1964

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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. 11,186 (Oct. 23, 1964), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-11186-establishing-the-federal-development-planning-committee-for.