By virtue of the authority vested in me by section 5317 of title 5 of the United States Code, as amended, it is ordered as follows: SECTION 1. The following offices and positions are placed in level IV of the Executive Schedule: (1) Administrator, Social and Rehabilitation Service, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. (2) Director, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. (3) Administrator, Health Services and Mental Health Administration, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. (4) Director, United States Secret Service, Department of the Treasury. (5) Associate Directors, (4) Office of Management and Budget, Executive Office of the President. (6) Deputy Under Secretary for Legislative Affairs, Department of Labor. (7) Director of Program Analysis and Evaluation, Department of Defense. (8) Principal Deputy Director of Defense Research and Engineering, Department of Defense. (9) Deputy Under Secretary for International Labor Affairs, Department of Labor. (10) Counselor to the Secretary of Labor, Department of Labor. (11) Deputy Under Secretary, Department of Transportation. (12) Deputy Under Secretary for Legislative Affairs, Department of Commerce. (13) Special Prosecutor, Department of Justice. (14) Associate Attorney General, Department of Justice. (15) Commissioner General of the International Exposition on the Environment, Department of Commerce. (16) Assistant Secretary for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, Department of State. SEC. 2. The following offices and positions are placed in level V of the Executive Schedule: (1) Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (Comptroller), Department of Defense. (2) Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, Department of Defense. (3) Assistant Secretary, Comptroller, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. (4) Deputy Commissioner of Social Security, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. (5) Commissioner on Aging, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. (6) Deputy Director, United States Secret Service, Department of the Treasury. (7) Assistant to the Secretary and Director, Office of Revenue Sharing, Department of the Treasury. (8) Commissioner, Automated Data and Telecommunications Service, General Services Administration. (9) Associate Administrator for Federal Management Policy, General Services Administration. SEC. 3. Nothing in this order shall be deemed to terminate or otherwise affect the appointment, or to require the reappointment, of any occupant of any position listed in section 1 or section 2 of this order who was the occupant of that position immediately before the issuance of this order. SEC. 4. Executive Order No. 11708 of March 23, 1973, as amended, is hereby superseded. RICHARD NIXON The White House, February 20, 1974.
Executive Order 11768 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02)
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
Executive Order 11768—Placing Certain Positions in Levels IV and V of the Executive Schedule
Executive Brief • At a Glance
⏱️ 2 min read (405 words) •
● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate
Nothing in this order shall be deemed to terminate or otherwise affect the appointment, or to require the reappointment, of any occupant of any position listed in section 1 or section 2 of this order who was the occupant of that position immediately before the issuance of this order.
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight
Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
📜 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 Richard Nixon on February 20, 1974, this order concerns Placing Certain Positions in Levels IV and V of the Executive Schedule. The following offices and positions are placed in level IV of the Executive Schedule: (1) Administrator, Social and Rehabilitation Service, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. (2) Director, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. (3) Administrator, Health Services and Mental Health Administration, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.
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
▪
Nothing in this order shall be deemed to terminate or otherwise affect the appointment, or to require the reappointment, of any occupant of any position listed in section 1 or section 2 of this order who was the occupant of that position immediately before the issuance of this order.
▪
Executive Order No. 11708 of March 23, 1973, as amended, is hereby superseded.
Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted
🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments
🏛️ Sovereign State Governments & Localities
🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants
🏛️ Public Health & Medical Institutions
🏛️ Financial Institutions & Monetary Authorities
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.
⚖️✨ 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
"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
📐
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
Low Friction
Legislative Encroachment & Purse
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
Moderate Friction
Executive Scope & Faithfulness
Directs internal executive branch machinery, agency workflows, and federal personnel.
Benchmark: Faithfully execute laws enacted by Congress vs. unilateral decree.
Dimension 3 • 10th Amendment
Moderate Friction
Federalism & State Sovereignty
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
Low Friction
Due Process & Individual Rights
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
Moderate Friction
Youngstown Jacksonian Tier
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
405
2,852 characters
Estimated Read Time
2 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
14.2
College Level
Text size:
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Referenced By Later Executive Orders (5)
Subsequent presidents who cited, amended, continued, or revoked this directive in later orders.
Gerald R. Ford • 1975-05-21
Gerald R. Ford • 1975-03-18
Gerald R. Ford • 1975-01-09
Richard Nixon • 1974-04-22
Richard Nixon • 1974-03-26
Related Executive Orders
1 order cited directly in this text, plus related actions from this administration.
EO 11708 Mar 23, 1973
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 11708—Placing Certain Positions in Levels IV and V of the Executive Schedule
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
The following offices and positions are placed in level IV of the Executive Schedule: (1) Administrator, Social and Rehabilitation Service, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.
Richard Nixon College Level • 2m
EO 11770 Feb 21, 1974
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 11770—International Symposium on Geothermal Energy-1975
📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations
The Secretary of the Interior is authorized, with respect to the International Symposium on Geothermal Energy to be held in San Francisco, California, in May 1975, to perform the functions conferred by section 102 (b) (5), (7) and (8) of the act. SEC. 2.
Richard Nixon College Level • 1m
EO 11769 Feb 21, 1974
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 11769—Advisory Committee Management
📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations
The heads of all executive departments and agencies shall take appropriate action to assure their ability to comply with the provisions of the act. SEC. 2.
Richard Nixon High School • 1m
EO 11767 Revoked Feb 19, 1974
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 11767—Designating the Organization of African Unity as a Public International Organization Entitled to Enjoy Certain Privileges, Exemptions, and Immunities
📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations
I hereby designate the Organization of African Unity (OAU) as a public international organization entitled to enjoy the privileges, exemptions, and immunities provided by the International Organizations Immunities Act.
Richard Nixon College Level • 1m
EO 11766 Jan 29, 1974
🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 11766—Modifying Rates of Interest Equalization Tax
📜 Art. I §8: Delegated Tariff & Commerce Execution
Of Executive Order No. 11464 of April 3, 1969, as amended, is hereby amended to read as follows: "Section 1. Rates of Tax. "(a) Rates applicable to acquisitions of stock.
Richard Nixon College Level • 2m
EO 11771 Mar 18, 1974
🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority) Fidelity (+0.38)
Executive Order 11771—Extending Diplomatic Privileges and Immunities to the Liaison Office of the People's Republic of China in Washington, DC and to Members Thereof
📜 10th Amend: Intergovernmental Federalism Cooperation
I extend to the Liaison Office of the People's Republic of China in Washington, D.C. and to its members who are duly notified to, and accepted by, the Secretary of State the same privileges and immunities, subject to corresponding conditions and obligations, as are enjoyed by…
Richard Nixon High School • 1m
📜
Scholarly & Legal Citations
Exec. Order No. 11,768 (Feb. 20, 1974), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-11768-placing-certain-positions-levels-iv-and-v-the-executive-schedule.
