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Executive Orders Historical Archive
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Executive Order 11253 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 11253—Amending Executive Order No. 11157 as it Relates to Incentive Pay for Hazardous Duty

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon B. Johnson
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Wednesday, October 20, 1965
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1 min read (296 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 1 min read (296 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

06 of Executive Order No. 11157 of June 22, 1964, is hereby amended by inserting "(a)" immediately after "Sec. 106.", and by adding at the end thereof the following new subsection: "(b) As determined by the Secretary of the Navy, any member qualified in submarines who, pursuant to competent orders, is assigned as a member of a submarine operational command staff whose duties require serving on a submarine during underway operations and who (1) during one calendar month, so serves 48 hours, (2) during any two consecutive calendar months when the requirements of clause (1) above have not been met, so serves 96 hours, or (3) during any three consecutive calendar months when the requirements of clause (2) above have not been met, so serves…

View all 2 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 Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises
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 October 20, 1965, this order concerns Amending Executive Order No. 11157 as it Relates to Incentive Pay for Hazardous Duty. 06 of Executive Order No. 11157 of June 22, 1964, is hereby amended by inserting "(a)" immediately after "Sec. 106.", and by adding at the end thereof the following new subsection: "(b) As determined by the Secretary of the Navy, any member qualified in submarines who, pursuant to competent orders, is assigned as a member of a submarine operational command staff whose duties require serving on a submarine during…

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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06 of Executive Order No. 11157 of June 22, 1964, is hereby amended by inserting "(a)" immediately after "Sec. 106.", and by adding at the end thereof the following new subsection: "(b) As determined by the Secretary of the Navy, any member qualified in submarines who, pursuant to competent orders, is assigned as a member of a submarine operational command staff whose duties require serving on a submarine during underway operations and who (1) during one calendar month, so serves 48 hours, (2) during any two consecutive calendar months when the requirements of clause (1) above have not been met, so serves 96 hours, or (3) during any three consecutive calendar months when the requirements of clause (2) above have not been met, so serves…

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In computing the incentive pay of members of a submarine operational command staff under this subsection (1) for fractions of a calendar month, the time required to be served during underway operations shall bear the same ratio to the time required for a full calendar month as the period in question bears to a full calendar month, and (2) for fractions of two consecutive calendar months, the period in question shall be considered as a unit and the time required shall bear the same ratio to the time required for a full calendar month as the period in question bears to a full calendar month."

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises

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
45 / 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

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

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
296
1,705 characters
Estimated Read Time
1 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
26.4
Post-Graduate Legal
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 Sections 301 (a) and (f) of Title 37 of the United States Code and as President of the United States and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States, Section 106 of Executive Order No. 11157 of June 22, 1964, is hereby amended by inserting "(a)" immediately after "Sec. 106.", and by adding at the end thereof the following new subsection: "(b) As determined by the Secretary of the Navy, any member qualified in submarines who, pursuant to competent orders, is assigned as a member of a submarine operational command staff whose duties require serving on a submarine during underway operations and who (1) during one calendar month, so serves 48 hours, (2) during any two consecutive calendar months when the requirements of clause (1) above have not been met, so serves 96 hours, or (3) during any three consecutive calendar months when the requirements of clause (2) above have not been met, so serves 144 hours, shall be entitled to receive incentive pay for the performance of submarine duty. In computing the incentive pay of members of a submarine operational command staff under this subsection (1) for fractions of a calendar month, the time required to be served during underway operations shall bear the same ratio to the time required for a full calendar month as the period in question bears to a full calendar month, and (2) for fractions of two consecutive calendar months, the period in question shall be considered as a unit and the time required shall bear the same ratio to the time required for a full calendar month as the period in question bears to a full calendar month." LYNDON B. JOHNSON The White House October 20, 1965

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Scholarly & Legal Citations 

Exec. Order No. 11,253 (Oct. 20, 1965), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-11253-amending-executive-order-no-11157-it-relates-incentive-pay-for.