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Executive Orders Historical Archive
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Executive Order 6174 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 6174—Administration of Public Work

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin D. Roosevelt
•
Friday, June 16, 1933
•
2 min read (307 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 2 min read (307 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

Pursuant to the authority of "An Act to encourage national industrial recovery, to foster fair competition, and to provide for the construction of certain useful public works, and for other purposes," approved June 16, 1933, and in order to effectuate Title III— Public Works and Construction Projects—thereof; 1.

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 Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants Private Citizens & Property Owners Foreign Nations & International Entities
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 Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 16, 1933, this order concerns Administration of Public Work. Pursuant to the authority of "An Act to encourage national industrial recovery, to foster fair competition, and to provide for the construction of certain useful public works, and for other purposes," approved June 16, 1933, and in order to effectuate Title III— Public Works and Construction Projects—thereof; 1.

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

▪

Pursuant to the authority of "An Act to encourage national industrial recovery, to foster fair competition, and to provide for the construction of certain useful public works, and for other purposes," approved June 16, 1933, and in order to effectuate Title III— Public Works and Construction Projects—thereof; 1.

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I hereby appoint Colonel Donald H. Sawyer to exercise temporarily the office of Federal Emergency Administrator of Public Works. 2.

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I hereby appoint a Special Board for Public Works consisting of the following: The Secretary of the Interior, Chairman; the Secretary of War; the Attorney General; the Secretary of Agriculture; the Secretary of Commerce; the Secretary of Labor; the Director of the Budget; Colonel George R. Spalding and Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Robert.

▪

During the ensuing 30 days the Federal Emergency Administrator of Public Works shall have authority to allot the sum of not to exceed $400,000,000 provided for in Title II of said act for highway building for distribution among the States, Territories, and the District of Columbia, and authority to allot the sum of not to exceed $238,000,000 to the Department of the Navy for the construction of certain vessels, the construction whereof conforms to the London Naval Treaty and has heretofore been approved by me.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners 🏛️ Foreign Nations & International Entities 🏛️ Financial Institutions & Monetary Authorities

Policy Areas & Topics

🏷️ Economy & Finance
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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)
§

"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
43 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8

Legislative Encroachment & Purse

Moderate Friction

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

Executive Scope & Faithfulness

Moderate Friction

Directs internal executive branch machinery, agency workflows, and federal personnel.

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
307
1,910 characters
Estimated Read Time
2 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
17.3
Post-Graduate Legal
Language Tone Score
+0.02
Constitutional Neutral
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

Pursuant to the authority of "An Act to encourage national industrial recovery, to foster fair competition, and to provide for the construction of certain useful public works, and for other purposes," approved June 16, 1933, and in order to effectuate Title III— Public Works and Construction Projects—thereof; 1. I hereby appoint Colonel Donald H. Sawyer to exercise temporarily the office of Federal Emergency Administrator of Public Works. 2. I hereby appoint a Special Board for Public Works consisting of the following: The Secretary of the Interior, Chairman; the Secretary of War; the Attorney General; the Secretary of Agriculture; the Secretary of Commerce; the Secretary of Labor; the Director of the Budget; Colonel George R. Spalding and Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Robert. During the ensuing 30 days the Federal Emergency Administrator of Public Works shall have authority to allot the sum of not to exceed $400,000,000 provided for in Title II of said act for highway building for distribution among the States, Territories, and the District of Columbia, and authority to allot the sum of not to exceed $238,000,000 to the Department of the Navy for the construction of certain vessels, the construction whereof conforms to the London Naval Treaty and has heretofore been approved by me. The distribution of the money herein allocated for public roads shall be subject to the approval of the Board for Public Works. The Federal Emergency Administrator of Public Works is hereby authorized to employ such necessary personnel on a temporary basis as may be approved by the Board. During the next 20 days it shall be the duty of the Federal Emergency Administrator of Public Works and the Board herein constituted to study and report to me on all public-works projects which have heretofore been submitted or shall hereafter be submitted. FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT The White House, June 16, 1933.

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Referenced By Later Executive Orders (2)

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

References Executive Order 6964—Withdrawal for Classification of All Public Land in Certain States
Franklin D. Roosevelt • 1935-02-05
References Executive Order 6625—Appointment to the Special Board for Public Works
Franklin D. Roosevelt • 1934-03-05
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Scholarly & Legal Citations 

Exec. Order No. 6174 (June 16, 1933), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-6174-administration-public-work.