By virtue of the authority vested in the President by section 5 (b) of the act of October 6, 1917, as amended (12 U.S.C. 95a), and in view of the continued existence of the national emergency declared by Proclamation No. 2914 of December 16, 1950, and the importance of strengthening the balance of payments position of the United States during this national emergency, it is hereby ordered: 1. (a) Any person subject to the jurisdiction of the United States who, alone or together with one or more affiliated persons, owns or acquires as much as a 10% interest in the voting securities, capital or earnings of a foreign business venture is prohibited on or after the effective date of this Order, except as expressly authorized by the Secretary of Commerce, from engaging in any transaction involving a direct or indirect transfer of capital to or within any foreign country or to any national thereof outside the United States. (b) The Secretary of Commerce is authorized to acquire, as he determines to be necessary or appropriate to strengthen the balance of payments position of the United States, that any person subject to the jurisdiction of the United States who, alone or together with one or more affiliated persons, owns or acquires as much as a 10% interest in the voting securities, capital or earnings of one or more foreign business ventures shall cause to he repatriated to the United States such part as the Secretary of Commerce may specify of (1) the earnings of such foreign business ventures which are attributable to such person's investments therein and (2) bank deposits and other short term financial assets which are held in foreign countries by or for the account of such person. Any person subject to the jurisdiction of the United States is required on or after the effective date of this Order to comply with any such requirement of the Secretary of Commerce. (c) The Secretary of Commerce shall exempt from the provisions of this section 1, to the extent delineated by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (hereinafter referred to as the Board), banks or financial institutions certified by the Board as being subject to the Federal Reserve Foreign Credit Restraint Programs, or to any program instituted by the Board under section 2 of this Order. 2. The Board is authorized in the event that it determines such action to be necessary or desirable to strengthen the balance of payments position of the United States: (a) to investigate, regulate or prohibit any transaction by any bank or other financial institution subject to the jurisdiction of the United States involving a direct or indirect transfer of capital to or within any foreign country or to any national thereof outside the United States; and (b) to require that any bank or financial institution subject to the jurisdiction of the United States shall cause to be repatriated to the, United States such part as the Board may specify of the bank deposits and other short term financial assets which are held in foreign countries by or for the account of such bank or financial institution. Any bank or financial institution subject to the jurisdiction of the United States shall comply with any such requirement of the Board on and after its effective date. 3. The Secretary of Commerce and the Board are respectively authorized, under authority delegated to each of them under this Order or otherwise available to them, to carry out the provisions of this Order, and to prescribe such definitions for any terms used herein, to issue such rules and regulations, orders, rulings, licenses and instructions, and to take such other actions, as each of them determines to be necessary or appropriate to carry out the purposes of this Order and their respective responsibilities hereunder. The Secretary of Commerce and the Board may each redelegate to any agency, instrumentality or official of the United States any authority under this Order, and may, in administering this Order, utilize the services of any other agencies, Federal or State, which are available and appropriate. 4. The Secretary of State shall advise the Secretary of Commerce and the Board with respect to matters under this Order involving foreign policy. The Secretary of Commerce and the Board shall consult as necessary and appropriate with each other and with the Secretary of the Treasury. 5. The delegations of authority in this Order shall not affect the authority of any agency or official pursuant to any other delegation of presidential authority, presently in effect or hereafter made, under section 5 (b) of the act of October 6, 1917, as amended (12 U.S.C. 95a). LYNDON B. JOHNSON The White House 10:45 a.m. Jan. 1, 1968 L.B.J. Ranch.
Executive Order 11387—Governing Certain Capital Transfers Abroad
Executive Brief • At a Glance
Any person subject to the jurisdiction of the United States who, alone or together with one or more affiliated persons, owns or acquires as much as a 10% interest in the voting securities, capital or earnings of a foreign business venture is prohibited on or after the effective date of this Order, except as expressly authorized by the Secretary of Commerce, from engaging in any transaction involving a direct or indirect transfer of capital to or within any foreign country or to any national thereof outside the United States.
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 January 1, 1968, this order concerns Governing Certain Capital Transfers Abroad. 1. (a) Any person subject to the jurisdiction of the United States who, alone or together with one or more affiliated persons, owns or acquires as much as a 10% interest in the voting securities, capital or earnings of a foreign business venture is prohibited on or after the effective date of this Order, except as expressly authorized by the Secretary of Commerce, from engaging in any transaction involving a direct…
Key Directives & Operative Actions
Any person subject to the jurisdiction of the United States who, alone or together with one or more affiliated persons, owns or acquires as much as a 10% interest in the voting securities, capital or earnings of a foreign business venture is prohibited on or after the effective date of this Order, except as expressly authorized by the Secretary of Commerce, from engaging in any transaction involving a direct or indirect transfer of capital to or within any foreign country or to any national thereof outside the United States.
The Secretary of Commerce is authorized to acquire, as he determines to be necessary or appropriate to strengthen the balance of payments position of the United States, that any person subject to the jurisdiction of the United States who, alone or together with one or more affiliated persons, owns or acquires as much as a 10% interest in the voting securities, capital or earnings of one or more foreign business ventures shall cause to he repatriated to the United States such part as the Secretary of Commerce may specify of (1) the earnings of such foreign business ventures which are attributable to such person's investments therein and (2) bank deposits and other short term financial assets which are held in foreign countries by or for…
The Secretary of Commerce shall exempt from the provisions of this section 1, to the extent delineated by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (hereinafter referred to as the Board), banks or financial institutions certified by the Board as being subject to the Federal Reserve Foreign Credit Restraint Programs, or to any program instituted by the Board under section 2 of this Order. 2.
The Board is authorized in the event that it determines such action to be necessary or desirable to strengthen the balance of payments position of the United States: (a) to investigate, regulate or prohibit any transaction by any bank or other financial institution subject to the jurisdiction of the United States involving a direct or indirect transfer of capital to or within any foreign country or to any national thereof outside the United States; and (b) to require that any bank or financial institution subject to the jurisdiction of the United States shall cause to be repatriated to the, United States such part as the Board may specify of the bank deposits and other short term financial assets which are held in foreign countries by or…
Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted
Policy Areas & Topics
The Framers' Constitutional Council
1787 PrismEvaluating this order against the constitutional debates of 1787 and the limits of Article II executive power.
"When the President takes measures incompatible with the expressed or implied will of Congress, his power is at its lowest ebb."
James Madison
Separation of Powers & Legislative Primacy
"The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands... may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny." — Federalist No. 47 (1788)
Madison would express grave alarm over this order. By asserting independent authority in tension with legislative limits or the Bill of Rights, the Executive risks collapsing the separation of powers into unilateral rule. Under the Madisonian model, no emergency justifies the Executive substituting its decree for a deliberative Act of Congress.
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.
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.
Five Measurable "Constitutional Friction" Dimensions
An objective audit measuring potential separation-of-powers tension against the United States Constitution and established Supreme Court doctrine.
Legislative Encroachment & Purse
Touches upon core congressional prerogatives: raises appropriations reallocation, tariff imposition, or statutory preemption questions.
Executive Scope & Faithfulness
Invokes broad unilateral or emergency executive authorities that test the constitutional boundary of the Take Care Clause.
Federalism & State Sovereignty
Creates friction with the Tenth Amendment by conditioning state grants, mandating local compliance, or preempting state police powers.
Due Process & Individual Rights
Applies regulatory or compliance standards to private contractors or commercial entities.
Youngstown Jacksonian Tier
The order asserts independent Article II prerogative against statutory constraints, reallocates funds without explicit appropriation, or stretches executive power into realms constitutionally reserved to the legislature or judiciary.
This directive engages significant constitutional friction across statutory authorization, legislative prerogatives, or individual liberties.
Referenced By Later Executive Orders (1)
Subsequent presidents who cited, amended, continued, or revoked this directive in later orders.
Scholarly & Legal Citations
Exec. Order No. 11,387 (Jan. 1, 1968), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-11387-governing-certain-capital-transfers-abroad.