Whereas , by Executive Order No. 4679, dated June 29, 1927, certain lands at Pupukea, District of Koolauloa, Island of Oahu, Territory of Hawaii, were withdrawn and set aside for military purposes; and Whereas , the description of the Pupukea Military Reservation, as given in said Executive Order No. 4679, dated June 29, 1927, has been found to be inaccurate and a resurvey has been made of the reservation; and Whereas , it is desired that said Executive Order No. 4679, dated June 29, 1927, be amended so as to accurately describe said Pupukea Military Reservation; and Whereas , it is desired to amend Executive Order No. 5174, dated August 21, 1929, amending said Executive Order No. 4679, dated June 29, 1927; Now, Therefore , it is hereby ordered that said Executive Order No. 5174, dated August 21, 1929, be and the same is hereby revoked and that said Executive Order No. 4679, dated June 29, 1927, be and the same is hereby amended, with respect to the description of Pupukea Military Reservation, to read as follows: TRACT NO. 1 Beginning at concrete monument No. 1, said monument bearing by true azimuth and distance (azimuths refer to south point) from concrete monument "D," 8° 12' 00"— 270.45 ft.; from said concrete monument "D" the azimuths and distances to U.S.C. & G.S. Triangulation Stations are: To Puena 61° 28' 01"—27,448 ft., To Maili 25° 01' 23"—47,153 ft.; thence 273° 43' 00"—196.8 ft. to concrete monument No. 2; thence 183° 43' 00"—447.6 ft. to concrete monument No. 3; thence 93° 43' 00"—196.8 ft. to concrete monument No. 4; thence 3° 43' 00"—447.6 ft. to the point of beginning; containing an area of 2.022 acres, more or less. TRACT NO. 2 Beginning at concrete monument No. 1, said concrete monument bearing by true azimuth and distance (azimuths refer to south point) from concrete monument "O," 129° 08' 00"— 38.4 ft.; from said concrete monument "O" the azimuth and distance to U.S.C. & G.S. Triangulation Station Pupukea is 275° 28' 02"— 2,740.46 ft.; thence 16° 44' 00"—129.1 ft. to concrete monument No. 2; thence 286° 37' 00"—81.1 ft. to concrete monument No. 3; thence 232° 32' 00"—101.4 ft. to concrete monument No. 4; thence 192° 21' 00"—86.0 ft. to concrete monument No. 5; thence 90° 29' 30"—139.4 ft. to the point of beginning; containing an area of 0.414 acres, more or less. HERBERT HOOVER The White House, December 14, 1929.
Executive Order 5240 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02)
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
Executive Order 5240—Correction in Description of Pupukea Military Reservation, Territory of Hawaii
Executive Brief • At a Glance
⏱️ 2 min read (406 words) •
● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate
Said Executive Order No. 5174, dated August 21, 1929, be and the same is hereby revoked and that said Executive Order No. 4679, dated June 29, 1927, be and the same is hereby amended, with respect to the description of Pupukea Military Reservation, to read as follows: TRACT NO. 1 Beginning at concrete monument No. 1, said monument bearing by true azimuth and distance (azimuths refer to south point) from concrete monument "D," 8° 12' 00"— 270.45 ft.; from said concrete monument "D" the azimuths and distances to U.S.C. & G.S. Triangulation Stations are: To Puena 61° 28' 01"—27,448 ft., To Maili 25° 01' 23"—47,153 ft.; thence 273° 43' 00"—196.8 ft. to concrete monument No. 2; thence 183° 43' 00"—447.6 ft. to concrete monument No. 3; thence…
⚖️ 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
Plain-English Translation & Framers' Constitutional Analysis
Early Statesman synthesis distilling legal jargon into practical meaning, statutory anchors, and structural constitutional impacts.
Signed by President Herbert Hoover on December 14, 1929, this order concerns Correction in Description of Pupukea Military Reservation, Territory of Hawaii. Said Executive Order No. 5174, dated August 21, 1929, be and the same is hereby revoked and that said Executive Order No. 4679, dated June 29, 1927, be and the same is hereby amended, with respect to the description of Pupukea Military Reservation, to read as follows: TRACT NO. 1 Beginning at concrete monument No. 1, said monument bearing by true azimuth and distance (azimuths refer to south point) from concrete…
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
▪
Said Executive Order No. 5174, dated August 21, 1929, be and the same is hereby revoked and that said Executive Order No. 4679, dated June 29, 1927, be and the same is hereby amended, with respect to the description of Pupukea Military Reservation, to read as follows: TRACT NO. 1 Beginning at concrete monument No. 1, said monument bearing by true azimuth and distance (azimuths refer to south point) from concrete monument "D," 8° 12' 00"— 270.45 ft.; from said concrete monument "D" the azimuths and distances to U.S.C. & G.S. Triangulation Stations are: To Puena 61° 28' 01"—27,448 ft., To Maili 25° 01' 23"—47,153 ft.; thence 273° 43' 00"—196.8 ft. to concrete monument No. 2; thence 183° 43' 00"—447.6 ft. to concrete monument No. 3; thence…
Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted
🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments
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
26 / 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
Low Friction
Executive Scope & Faithfulness
Exercises standard supervisory executive authority to faithfully execute existing statutes.
Benchmark: Faithfully execute laws enacted by Congress vs. unilateral decree.
Dimension 3 • 10th Amendment
Low Friction
Federalism & State Sovereignty
Confined strictly to internal federal jurisdiction, federal property, or direct military command.
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
406
2,374 characters
Estimated Read Time
2 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
6.3
Grade 6
Text size:
🔗
Referenced By Later Executive Orders (1)
Subsequent presidents who cited, amended, continued, or revoked this directive in later orders.
Dwight D. Eisenhower • 1953-10-14
Related Executive Orders
1 order cited directly in this text, plus related actions from this administration.
EO 5174 Aug 21, 1929
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 5174—Amending Executive Order No. 4679 of June 29, 1927, Describing the Boundaries of Pupukea Military Reservation, Territory of Hawaii
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
The said Executive Order No. 4679, dated June 29, 1927, be and the same is hereby amended with respect to the description of the Pupukea Military Reservation, so as to read as follows: TRACT NO. 1 Beginning at a concrete monument No. 1, said point is by true azimuth and…
Herbert Hoover Grade 6 • 2m
EO 5242 Dec 16, 1929
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 5242—Designating Clarence M. Young as Acting Secretary of Commerce Under Certain Conditions
📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations
I hereby authorize and direct Clarence M. Young, Assistant Secretary of Commerce, appointed under the authority of the act of May 20, 1926, to perform the duties of the Secretary of Commerce during the absence of the Secretary of Commerce, and the Assistant Secretary of…
Herbert Hoover College Level • 1m
EO 5241 Dec 16, 1929
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 5241—Reserving Certain Described Lands for Resurvey, Colorado
📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations
The public lands in secs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12, T. 10 S., R. 86 W., 6th P.M., Colorado, be and the same are hereby withdrawn from settlement, location, sale, entry and all forms of appropriation, pending a resurvey of said township under the act of March 3, 1909 (35…
Herbert Hoover Grade 8 • 1m
EO 5239 Dec 12, 1929
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 5239—Expenditures in Connection with Matters Affecting Oil Lands on Former Naval Reserves
📜 5th Amend: Regulatory Execution with Due Process
That the substitute register who shall be assigned to sit in the hearing of the case of United States vs. The Standard Oil Company of California et al., now pending in the General Land Office, Sacramento, California, involving title to Section 36, Township 30 south, Range 23…
Herbert Hoover College Level • 2m
EO 5238 Dec 12, 1929
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 5238—Christmas, 1929
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
The several executive departments and independent Government establishments in the District of Columbia, including the Government Printing Office and the Navy Yard and Stations, be closed on Tuesday, December 24, 1929, and all clerks and other employees in the Federal service…
Herbert Hoover Post-Graduate Legal • 1m
EO 5237 Dec 10, 1929
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 5237—Reserving Certain Described Lands for Classification, California
📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations
The unreserved public lands within the following listed townships be, and the same are hereby temporarily withdrawn for classification, subject to prior valid rights: Humboldt Meridian In Tps. 7, 11 and 12 N., R. 1 E.; In T. 6 N., R. 1 W.; In Tps. 4 and 5 S., R. 1 E.; In T. 5…
Herbert Hoover Grade 7 • 1m
📜
Scholarly & Legal Citations
Exec. Order No. 5240 (Dec. 14, 1929), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-5240-correction-description-pupukea-military-reservation-territory-hawaii.
