By virtue of and pursuant to the authority vested in me by the National Industrial Recovery Act of June 16, 1933 (ch. 90, 48 Stat. 195), and the Fourth Deficiency Act, fiscal year 1933, of June 16, 1933 (ch. 100, 48 Stat. 274, 275), the heads of all emergency agencies established under the authority of the said National Industrial Recovery Act and operating under funds allocated to them by the President from the appropriation for national industrial recovery contained in the said Fourth Deficiency Act, together with the heads of all executive departments and other independent establishments insofar as they operate under funds allocated to them by the President from the said appropriation, are hereby authorized, out of funds so allocated, to make such expenditures (including expenditures for personal services and rent at the seat of government and elsewhere, for law books and books of reference, for paper, printing, and binding, and for the purchase, maintenance, and operation of passenger-carrying vehicles), as they may deem necessary to effectuate the purposes for which the said funds are allocated: Provided , That the purchase, maintenance, and operation of motor-propelled passenger-carrying vehicles subsequent to the date of this order shall be subject to the provisions of section 3 of the act of March 3, 1933 (ch. 212, 47 Stat. 1489, 1513). All such expenditures made or incurred prior to the date of this order are hereby confirmed and ratified. FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT The White House, March 27, 1934.
Executive Order 6660 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02)
📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations
Executive Order 6660—Authorizing the Heads of Departments, Independent Establishments, and Emergency Agencies to Make Certain Expenditures out of Allocations from the Appropriation for National Industrial Recovery
Executive Brief • At a Glance
⏱️ 1 min read (245 words) •
● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate
The heads of all emergency agencies established under the authority of the said National Industrial Recovery Act and operating under funds allocated to them by the President from the appropriation for national industrial recovery contained in the said Fourth Deficiency Act, together with the heads of all executive departments and other independent establishments insofar as they operate under funds allocated to them by the President from the said appropriation, are hereby authorized, out of funds so allocated, to make such expenditures (including expenditures for personal services and rent at the seat of government and elsewhere, for law books and books of reference, for paper, printing, and binding, and for the purchase, maintenance, and…
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight
Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants
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 March 27, 1934, this order concerns Authorizing the Heads of Departments, Independent Establishments, and Emergency Agencies to Make Certain Expenditures out of Allocations from the Appropriation for National Industrial Recovery. The heads of all emergency agencies established under the authority of the said National Industrial Recovery Act and operating under funds allocated to them by the President from the appropriation for national industrial recovery contained in the said Fourth Deficiency Act, together with the heads of all executive departments and other independent establishments insofar as they operate under funds allocated to them…
Constitutional Assessment: This action represents an orderly exercise of Article II administrative discretion, managing the internal machinery and personnel of the executive branch without abridging the ancient liberties of the people.
Key Directives & Operative Actions
▪
The heads of all emergency agencies established under the authority of the said National Industrial Recovery Act and operating under funds allocated to them by the President from the appropriation for national industrial recovery contained in the said Fourth Deficiency Act, together with the heads of all executive departments and other independent establishments insofar as they operate under funds allocated to them by the President from the said appropriation, are hereby authorized, out of funds so allocated, to make such expenditures (including expenditures for personal services and rent at the seat of government and elsewhere, for law books and books of reference, for paper, printing, and binding, and for the purchase, maintenance, and…
▪
All such expenditures made or incurred prior to the date of this order are hereby confirmed and ratified.
Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted
🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants
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
"A feeble Executive implies a feeble execution of the government; and a government ill executed, whatever it may be in theory, must be, in practice, a bad government." — Federalist No. 70 (1788)
Hamilton would view this directive as the natural and indispensable functioning of administrative leadership. Without the power to coordinate agencies, manage personnel, and resolve operational ambiguities, the modern presidency would be reduced to an impotent figurehead.
Hamiltonian Stance: Defends Vigor & Dispatch
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
33 / 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
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
245
1,527 characters
Estimated Read Time
1 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
16.6
Post-Graduate Legal
Text size:
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Other executive actions signed by Franklin D. Roosevelt around this period.
EO 6662 Mar 27, 1934
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
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📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
By virtue of the authority vested in me under sections 1 and 4 of title I of the act entitled "An Act to maintain the credit of the United States Government" approved March 20, 1933 (Public, No. 2, 73d Cong.), the following regulation amending Veterans Regulation No. 12 is…
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📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations
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📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations
I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States, pursuant to the authority vested in me by Title I of the National Industrial Recovery Act approved June 16, 1933 and otherwise do adopt and approve tho report, recommendations and findings of the Administrator and do…
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📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations
I, Franklin D. Roosevelt , President of the United States, pursuant to the authority vested in me by Title I of the National Industrial Recovery Act, approved June 16, 1933, and otherwise, do adopt and approve the report, recommendations and findings of the Administrator and do…
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⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 6657—Regulations for Payment of Losses Sustained by Officers, Enlisted Men, and Employees of the United States in Foreign Countries Due to Appreciation of Foreign Currencies in Their Relation to the American Dollar
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
[APP NOTE: This executive order was signed by the president but never distributed. It was superseded by Executive Order No. 6657-A . Below is a letter from the Secretary of State and text of the signed order. See also the downloadable PDF file of internal State Department notes.
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EO 6657 Mar 27, 1934
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 6657-A—Regulations for Payment of Losses Sustained by Officers, Enlisted Men, and Employees of the United States in Foreign Countries Due to Appreciation of Foreign Currencies in Their Relation to the American Dollar
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
I prescribe the following temporary regulations, which shall apply to all officers, enlisted men, and employees of the United States while in service in foreign countries. DEFINITION 1.
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📜
Scholarly & Legal Citations
Exec. Order No. 6660 (Mar. 27, 1934), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-6660-authorizing-the-heads-departments-independent-establishments-and.
