By virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States of America, and as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States, it is hereby ordered as follows: SECTION 1. There is established a Vice Presidential Service Badge to be awarded in the name of the Vice President of the United States of America to members of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard who have been assigned to duty in the Office of the Vice President for a period of at least one year subsequent to December 19, 1974. SEC. 2. The Vice Presidential Service Badge may be awarded, upon recommendation of the Military Assistant to the Vice President, by the Secretary of the Army, the Secretary of the Navy, the Secretary of the Air Force, or, when the Coast Guard is not operating as a service in the Navy, the Secretary of Transportation, to military personnel of their respective services who have been assigned to duty in the Office of the Vice President. SEC. 3. The Vice Presidential Service Badge shall be accompanied by a certificate, the design of which is attached hereto and is made a part of this Order. The Vice Presidential Service Badge shall consist of a white enameled disc surrounded by 27 gold rays radiating from the center, 1 15/16 inches in diameter overall. Superimposed on the white disc shall be a gold color device taken from the seal of the Vice President of the United States. The overall design of the badge shall be as shown at the top of the certificate which accompanies the Badge and which is attached to this Order. SEC. 4. Upon award, the Vice Presidential Service Badge may be worn as a part of the uniform of an individual both during and after his assignment to duty in the Office of the Vice President. SEC. 5. Only one Vice Presidential Service Badge shall be awarded to an individual. It may be awarded posthumously. SEC. 6. Notwithstanding the provisions of Sections 1 and 2 of this Order, any member of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard, who has been assigned to duty in the Office of the Vice President, is authorized to wear the Vice Presidential Service Badge on his uniform commencing on the first day of duty in the Office of the Vice President and thereafter while assigned to such duty. SEC. 7. Executive Order No. 11544 of July 8, 1970, is hereby superseded; however, individuals previously awarded a Vice Presidential Service Badge under that Order are authorized to continue to wear such badge as part of their uniform. GERALD R. FORD The White House, July 19, 1976.
Executive Order 11926 Amended ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02)
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
Executive Order 11926—The Vice Presidential Service Badge
Executive Brief • At a Glance
⏱️ 2 min read (454 words) •
● Amended
🎯 Primary Mandate
There is established a Vice Presidential Service Badge to be awarded in the name of the Vice President of the United States of America to members of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard who have been assigned to duty in the Office of the Vice President for a period of at least one year subsequent to December 19, 1974.
⚖️ 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 Financial Institutions & Monetary Authorities
Legal Status & Amendment History
AmendedSource: Office of the Federal Register executive order disposition notes. Orders before 1994 show only actions recorded by later orders.
Plain-English Translation & Framers' Constitutional Analysis
Early Statesman synthesis distilling legal jargon into practical meaning, statutory anchors, and structural constitutional impacts.
Signed by President Gerald R. Ford on July 19, 1976, this order concerns The Vice Presidential Service Badge. There is established a Vice Presidential Service Badge to be awarded in the name of the Vice President of the United States of America to members of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard who have been assigned to duty in the Office of the Vice President for a period of at least one year subsequent to December 19, 1974. SEC. 2.
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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There is established a Vice Presidential Service Badge to be awarded in the name of the Vice President of the United States of America to members of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard who have been assigned to duty in the Office of the Vice President for a period of at least one year subsequent to December 19, 1974.
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The Vice Presidential Service Badge may be awarded, upon recommendation of the Military Assistant to the Vice President, by the Secretary of the Army, the Secretary of the Navy, the Secretary of the Air Force, or, when the Coast Guard is not operating as a service in the Navy, the Secretary of Transportation, to military personnel of their respective services who have been assigned to duty in the Office of the Vice President.
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The Vice Presidential Service Badge shall be accompanied by a certificate, the design of which is attached hereto and is made a part of this Order.
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The Vice Presidential Service Badge shall consist of a white enameled disc surrounded by 27 gold rays radiating from the center, 1 15/16 inches in diameter overall.
Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted
🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments
🏛️ 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
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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
53 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8
Moderate Friction
Legislative Encroachment & Purse
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
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
High Friction
Federalism & State Sovereignty
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
Moderate Friction
Due Process & Individual Rights
Applies regulatory or compliance standards to private contractors or commercial entities.
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
454
2,558 characters
Estimated Read Time
2 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
15.7
College Level
Text size:
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Referenced By Later Executive Orders (3)
Subsequent presidents who cited, amended, continued, or revoked this directive in later orders.
Amends Executive Order 14131—Amendments to Executive Orders Relating to Certain Certificates and Badges
Joseph R. Biden, Jr. • 2024-12-20
George W. Bush • 2005-03-10
Related Executive Orders
1 order cited directly in this text, plus related actions from this administration.
EO 11544 Jul 8, 1970
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 11544—Establishing the Vice Presidential Service Certificate and the Vice Presidential Service Badge
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
There is hereby established a Vice Presidential Service Certificate to be awarded in the name of the Vice President of the United States to members of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard who have been assigned to duty in the Office of the Vice President for…
Richard Nixon Post-Graduate Legal • 2m
EO 11927 Jul 22, 1976
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 11927—Amending Executive Order No. 11861, as Amended, Placing Certain Positions in Levels IV and V of the Executive Schedule
📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations
Of Executive Order No. 11861 of May 21, 1975, as amended, placing certain positions in level IV of the Executive Schedule, is further amended by deleting "Assistant" in subsection (10) and by inserting "Counselor" in lieu thereof. SEC. 2.
Gerald R. Ford High School • 1m
EO 11929 Jul 26, 1976
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 11929—Incentive Pay for Enlisted Members of the Uniformed Services Who Are Involuntarily Removed From Aerial Flight Duties
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
Executive Order No. 11157 of June 22, 1964, as amended, is further amended by adding the following section: "Sec. 114. Under such regulations as the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Transportation may prescribe with respect to enlisted members within their respective…
Gerald R. Ford Post-Graduate Legal • 1m
EO 11928 Jul 26, 1976
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 11928—Exemption of Harold Council From Mandatory Retirement
📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations
Harold Council, a member of the Mississippi River Commission, will become subject to mandatory retirement for age as of July 31, 1976, under the provisions of section 8335 of title 5 of the United States Code, unless exempted by Executive order.
Gerald R. Ford College Level • 1m
EO 11930 Jul 30, 1976
🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority) Fidelity (+0.57)
Executive Order 11930—Performance by the Federal Energy Office of Energy Functions of the Federal Energy Administration
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
There is hereby established in the Executive Office of the President a Federal Energy Office, which shall be under the immediate supervision and direction of an Administrator of the Federal Energy Office, hereinafter referred to as the Administrator, who shall be appointed by…
Gerald R. Ford Post-Graduate Legal • 7m
EO 11931 Aug 3, 1976
🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority) Fidelity (+0.55)
Executive Order 11931—Extending Diplomatic Privileges and Immunities to Permanent Observers to the Organization of American States and to Members of Their Diplomatic Staffs
📜 Art. II §2: Diplomatic & Foreign Policy Prerogative
I extend to Permanent Observers to the Organization of American States, and to the members of the diplomatic staffs of such Permanent Observers, the same privileges and immunities, subject to corresponding conditions and obligations, as are enjoyed by diplomatic envoys…
Gerald R. Ford College Level • 1m
📜
Scholarly & Legal Citations
Exec. Order No. 11,926 (July 19, 1976), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-11926-the-vice-presidential-service-badge.
