★
Executive Orders Historical Archive
🎲
Cite
Executive Order 11219 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. II §3: Administrative Management & Civil Service

Executive Order 11219—Providing for the Appointment in the Competitive Service of Certain Present and Former Officers and Employees of the Foreign Service

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon B. Johnson
•
Thursday, May 6, 1965
•
3 min read (526 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 3 min read (526 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

Under regulations and conditions prescribed by the Civil Service Commission, a present or former officer or employee of the Foreign Service may be appointed in the competitive service if he: (a) Is qualified for the position in the competitive service; (b) Was appointed in the Foreign Service under authority of the Foreign Service Act of 1946, as amended, or legislation that supplements or replaces that Act; (c) Served in the Foreign Service under an unlimited, career-type appointment and, immediately before his separation from that appointment, he completed at least one year of continuous service under one or more nontemporary appointments in the Foreign Service which may include the service that made him eligible for his career-type…

View all 4 directives ↓
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight
Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
📜 Art. II §3: Administrative Management & Civil Service
Framers' constitutional debate ↓
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Armed Forces & Military Establishments 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 Lyndon B. Johnson on May 6, 1965, this order concerns Providing for the Appointment in the Competitive Service of Certain Present and Former Officers and Employees of the Foreign Service. Under regulations and conditions prescribed by the Civil Service Commission, a present or former officer or employee of the Foreign Service may be appointed in the competitive service if he: (a) Is qualified for the position in the competitive service; (b) Was appointed in the Foreign Service under authority of the Foreign Service Act of 1946, as amended, or legislation that supplements or replaces that Act; (c)…

Constitutional Assessment: This action represents an orderly exercise of Article II administrative discretion, managing the internal machinery and personnel of the executive branch without abridging the ancient liberties of the people.

Key Directives & Operative Actions

▪

Under regulations and conditions prescribed by the Civil Service Commission, a present or former officer or employee of the Foreign Service may be appointed in the competitive service if he: (a) Is qualified for the position in the competitive service; (b) Was appointed in the Foreign Service under authority of the Foreign Service Act of 1946, as amended, or legislation that supplements or replaces that Act; (c) Served in the Foreign Service under an unlimited, career-type appointment and, immediately before his separation from that appointment, he completed at least one year of continuous service under one or more nontemporary appointments in the Foreign Service which may include the service that made him eligible for his career-type…

▪

Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, a person appointed under Section 1 of this Order becomes a career conditional employee.

▪

A person appointed under Section 1 of this Order becomes a career employee when he: (1) Has completed at least 3 years of substantially continuous service under one or more nontemporary appointments in the Foreign Service immediately before his separation from the unlimited, career type appointment in that Service which may include the service that made him eligible for such appointment; (2) Is appointed to a position in the competitive service required by law or Executive order to be filled on a permanent or career basis; or (3) Has completed the service requirement for career tenure in the competitive service.

▪

For the purpose of subparagraph (3) of this paragraph, service in the Foreign Service is creditable in meeting the service requirement only if the person concerned is appointed to a nontemporary position in the competitive service under Section 1 of this Order within 30 days after his separation from the Foreign Service.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Foreign Nations & International Entities

Policy Areas & Topics

🏷️ Government Operations & Civil Service
🏛️

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
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

"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
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
📐

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
35 / 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

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

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
526
3,239 characters
Estimated Read Time
3 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
25.6
Post-Graduate Legal
Language Tone Score
+0.02
Constitutional Neutral
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document
📑Sections Outline (5 sections)
Sec. 1Sec. 2Sec. 3Sec. 4Sec. 5

By virtue of the authority vested in me by section 1753 of the Revised Statutes and the Civil Service Act (22 Stat. 403), and as President of the United States, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. #sec-1

Under regulations and conditions prescribed by the Civil Service Commission, a present or former officer or employee of the Foreign Service may be appointed in the competitive service if he: (a) Is qualified for the position in the competitive service; (b) Was appointed in the Foreign Service under authority of the Foreign Service Act of 1946, as amended, or legislation that supplements or replaces that Act; (c) Served in the Foreign Service under an unlimited, career-type appointment and, immediately before his separation from that appointment, he completed at least one year of continuous service under one or more nontemporary appointments in the Foreign Service which may include the service that made him eligible for his career-type appointment; and (d) Is appointed within 3 years after his separation from the Foreign Service, or he completed at least 3 years, of substantially continuous service under one or more nontemporary appointments in the Foreign Service immediately before his separation from the unlimited, career-type appointment in that Service which may include the service that made him eligible for such appointment, or he is entitled to preference under section 2 of the Veterans' Preference Act of 1944, as amended.

Sec. 2. #sec-2

(a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, a person appointed under Section 1 of this Order becomes a career conditional employee. (b) A person appointed under Section 1 of this Order becomes a career employee when he: (1) Has completed at least 3 years of substantially continuous service under one or more nontemporary appointments in the Foreign Service immediately before his separation from the unlimited, career type appointment in that Service which may include the service that made him eligible for such appointment; (2) Is appointed to a position in the competitive service required by law or Executive order to be filled on a permanent or career basis; or (3) Has completed the service requirement for career tenure in the competitive service. For the purpose of subparagraph (3) of this paragraph, service in the Foreign Service is creditable in meeting the service requirement only if the person concerned is appointed to a nontemporary position in the competitive service under Section 1 of this Order within 30 days after his separation from the Foreign Service.

Sec. 3. #sec-3

A person appointed to a nontemporary position in the competitive service under Section 1 of this Order acquires a competitive status automatically on appointment.

Sec. 4. #sec-4

Any law, Executive order, or regulation that would disqualify an applicant for appointment in the competitive service shall also disqualify a person for appointment under Section 1 of this Order.

Sec. 5. #sec-5

For the purpose of this Order, a person is deemed to be an officer or employee in the "Foreign Service" if he was appointed in any agency under authority of the Foreign Service Act of 1946, as amended, or legislation that supplements or replaces that Act. LYNDON B. JOHNSON The White House, May 6, 1965.

🔗

Referenced By Later Executive Orders (1)

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

Amends Executive Order 12292—Foreign Service Act of 1980
Ronald Reagan • 1981-02-23
📜

Scholarly & Legal Citations 

Exec. Order No. 11,219 (May 6, 1965), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-11219-providing-for-the-appointment-the-competitive-service-certain.