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Executive Orders Historical Archive
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Executive Order 11659 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 11659—Establishment of the Upper Mississippi River Basin Commission

Richard Nixon Richard Nixon
•
Wednesday, March 22, 1972
•
3 min read (524 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 3 min read (524 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

It is hereby declared that the Upper Mississippi River Basin Commission is established under the provisions of Title II of the Water Resources Planning Act (42 U.S.C. 1962b et seq.).

View all 4 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 Sovereign State Governments & Localities Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants
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 Richard Nixon on March 22, 1972, this order concerns Establishment of the Upper Mississippi River Basin Commission. Upper Mississippi River Basin Commission. It is hereby declared that the Upper Mississippi River Basin Commission is established under the provisions of Title II of the Water Resources Planning Act (42 U.S.C. 1962b et seq.). SEC. 2. Jurisdiction of the Commission.

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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It is hereby declared that the Upper Mississippi River Basin Commission is established under the provisions of Title II of the Water Resources Planning Act (42 U.S.C. 1962b et seq.).

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It is hereby determined that the jurisdiction of the Upper Mississippi River Basin Commission referred to in Section 1 of this order shall extend to those portions of the States of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin that are located within the Upper Mississippi River drainage basin, defined as the drainage basin of the Mississippi River above the mouth of the Ohio River, excluding the drainage basin of the Missouri River above a point immediately below the mouth of the Gasconade River.

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It is hereby determined that, in accordance with Section 202 of the Act (42 U.S.C. 1962b-1), the Commission shall consist of the following members: (1) a Chairman to be appointed by the President, (2) one member from each of the following Federal departments and agencies: Department of Agriculture; Department of the Army; Department of Commerce; Department of Health, Education, and Welfare; Department of Housing and Urban Development; Department of the Interior; Department of Transportation; Federal Power Commission; Atomic Energy Commission; and the Environmental Protection Agency; such member to be appointed by the head of the department or independent agency he represents, (3) one member from each of the following States: Illinois…

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The Commission and its officers, members, and employees shall perform and exercise, with respect to the area specified in Section 2 of this order, their respective functions, powers, and duties as set out in Title II of the Water Resources Planning Act.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises 🏛️ Sovereign State Governments & Localities 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Public Health & Medical Institutions

Policy Areas & Topics

🏷️ Energy & Environment 🏷️ Housing
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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
30 / 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

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%).
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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
524
3,286 characters
Estimated Read Time
3 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
14.1
College Level
Language Tone Score
+0.02
Constitutional Neutral
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

The Water Resources Planning Act (79 Stat. 244; 42 U.S.C. 1962 et seq.) provides for the establishment of river basin water and related land resources commissions. In conformity with the requirements of that act the Governors of the States of the Upper Mississippi River drainage basin, as defined in Section 2 of this order, and the Water Resources Council have requested, or concurred in, the establishment of such a Commission. Now, THEREFORE, by virtue of the authority vested in me by Section 201 of the Water Resources Planning Act (42 U.S.C. 1962b), and as President of the United States, it is ordered as follows: SECTION 1. Upper Mississippi River Basin Commission. It is hereby declared that the Upper Mississippi River Basin Commission is established under the provisions of Title II of the Water Resources Planning Act (42 U.S.C. 1962b et seq.). SEC. 2. Jurisdiction of the Commission. It is hereby determined that the jurisdiction of the Upper Mississippi River Basin Commission referred to in Section 1 of this order shall extend to those portions of the States of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin that are located within the Upper Mississippi River drainage basin, defined as the drainage basin of the Mississippi River above the mouth of the Ohio River, excluding the drainage basin of the Missouri River above a point immediately below the mouth of the Gasconade River. SEC. 3. Membership of the Commission. It is hereby determined that, in accordance with Section 202 of the Act (42 U.S.C. 1962b-1), the Commission shall consist of the following members: (1) a Chairman to be appointed by the President, (2) one member from each of the following Federal departments and agencies: Department of Agriculture; Department of the Army; Department of Commerce; Department of Health, Education, and Welfare; Department of Housing and Urban Development; Department of the Interior; Department of Transportation; Federal Power Commission; Atomic Energy Commission; and the Environmental Protection Agency; such member to be appointed by the head of the department or independent agency he represents, (3) one member from each of the following States: Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin, (4) one member from each interstate agency created by an interstate compact to which the consent of Congress has been given and whose jurisdiction extends to the waters of the area specified in

Section 2. #sec-2

SEC. 4. Functions, Powers, and Duties. The Commission and its officers, members, and employees shall perform and exercise, with respect to the area specified in Section 2 of this order, their respective functions, powers, and duties as set out in Title II of the Water Resources Planning Act. SEC. 5. Consultation with Adjoining States. The Commission is expected to provide for procedures for consultation with the States of Indiana, Michigan, and South Dakota on any matter which might affect the water and related land resources of the headwater drainages of the Mississippi River Basin in those States and to give notice to those States of meetings of the Commission. SEC. 6. Reporting to the President. The Chairman of the Commission shall report to the President through the Water Resources Council. RICHARD NIXON The White House, March 22, 1972

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Referenced By Later Executive Orders (5)

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

Amends Executive Order 12319—River Basin Commissions
Ronald Reagan • 1981-09-09
Amends Executive Order 12148—Federal Emergency Management
Jimmy Carter • 1979-07-20
Amends Executive Order 12038—Department of Energy
Jimmy Carter • 1978-02-03
Amends Executive Order 11882—Membership of Energy Research and Development Administration on Established River Basin Commissions
Gerald R. Ford • 1975-10-06
Amends Executive Order 11737—Enlargement of the Upper Mississippi River Basin Commission
Richard Nixon • 1973-09-07
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Scholarly & Legal Citations 

Exec. Order No. 11,659 (Mar. 22, 1972), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-11659-establishment-the-upper-mississippi-river-basin-commission.