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Executive Order 6751 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 6751—Establishing the National Steel Labor Relations Board

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Thursday, June 28, 1934
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4 min read (781 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 4 min read (781 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States, do hereby prescribe the following Executive order: Sec. 1 ( a ) There is hereby created in connection with the Department of Labor a Board, to be known as the "National Steel Labor Relations Board", which shall be composed of Judge Walter P. Stacey, North Carolina, chairman; James A. Mullenbach, Illinois and Admiral Henry A. Wiley, United States Navy, retired.

⚖️ 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 Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants Private Citizens & Property Owners

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 28, 1934, this order concerns Establishing the National Steel Labor Relations Board. I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States, do hereby prescribe the following Executive order: Sec. 1 ( a ) There is hereby created in connection with the Department of Labor a Board, to be known as the "National Steel Labor Relations Board", which shall be composed of Judge Walter P. Stacey, North Carolina, chairman; James A. Mullenbach, Illinois and Admiral Henry A. Wiley, United States Navy, retired.

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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I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States, do hereby prescribe the following Executive order: Sec. 1 ( a ) There is hereby created in connection with the Department of Labor a Board, to be known as the "National Steel Labor Relations Board", which shall be composed of Judge Walter P. Stacey, North Carolina, chairman; James A. Mullenbach, Illinois and Admiral Henry A. Wiley, United States Navy, retired.

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Each member of the Board shall receive necessary traveling and subsistence expenses and, in addition thereto, $40 per diem.

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Obligations and expenses incurred under the authority of this order shall be paid out of the funds appropriated for the purposes of the National Industrial Recovery Act by the Fourth Deficiency Act, fiscal year 1933, approved June 16, 1933 [48 Stat. 274, 275].

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The Board is hereby authorized in connection with labor problems relating to the iron and steel industry— ( a ) Promptly to investigate, hear, and determine any charges of interference, restraint, or coercion of employees in the exercise of their rights as defined in section 7 (a) of the National Industrial Recovery Act or article IV, § 1, of the Code of Fair Competition for the Iron and Steel Industry, and any complaint of discrimination against or discharge of any employee in violation of the rights as defined in said sections; and ( b ) To mediate in any dispute arising between employers and employees in the iron and steel industry; to arrange, when the Board shall deem it necessary, for conferences for collective bargaining or…

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners

Policy Areas & Topics

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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)
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"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
50 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8

Legislative Encroachment & Purse

High Friction

Touches upon core congressional prerogatives: raises appropriations reallocation, tariff imposition, or statutory preemption questions.

Benchmark: Power of the purse, taxes/tariffs, and rule of law reserved to Congress.
Dimension 2 • Art. II, §1 & §3

Executive Scope & Faithfulness

Low Friction

Exercises standard supervisory executive authority to faithfully execute existing statutes.

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

Moderate Friction

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

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
781
4,735 characters
Estimated Read Time
4 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
📑Sections Outline (4 sections)

By virtue of the authority vested in me under title I of the National Industrial Recovery Act [48 Stat. 195; U.S.C. title 15, § 701 et seq.] and under a joint resolution approved June 19, 1934 [Pub. Res. 44, 73d Cong.] and in order to effectuate the policy of said act and joint resolution, I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States, do hereby prescribe the following Executive order: Sec. 1 ( a ) There is hereby created in connection with the Department of Labor a Board, to be known as the "National Steel Labor Relations Board", which shall be composed of Judge Walter P. Stacey, North Carolina, chairman; James A. Mullenbach, Illinois and Admiral Henry A. Wiley, United States Navy, retired. Each member of the Board shall receive necessary traveling and subsistence expenses and, in addition thereto, $40 per diem. ( b ) The Board shall have authority to appoint employees, without regard to the provisions of the civil-service laws or the Classification Act of 1923 as amended, and to incur financial obligations in the proper performance of its duties. Obligations and expenses incurred under the authority of this order shall be paid out of the funds appropriated for the purposes of the National Industrial Recovery Act by the Fourth Deficiency Act, fiscal year 1933, approved June 16, 1933 [48 Stat. 274, 275].

Sec. 2. #sec-2

The Board is hereby authorized in connection with labor problems relating to the iron and steel industry— ( a ) Promptly to investigate, hear, and determine any charges of interference, restraint, or coercion of employees in the exercise of their rights as defined in section 7 (a) of the National Industrial Recovery Act or article IV, § 1, of the Code of Fair Competition for the Iron and Steel Industry, and any complaint of discrimination against or discharge of any employee in violation of the rights as defined in said sections; and ( b ) To mediate in any dispute arising between employers and employees in the iron and steel industry; to arrange, when the Board shall deem it necessary, for conferences for collective bargaining or adjustment of grievances between employers and representatives of employees chosen in accordance with the requirements of section 7 (a) of the National Industrial Recovery Act [48 Stat. 198; U.S.C. title 15, § 707 (a)], article IV, § 1, of the Code of Fair Competition for the Iron and Steel Industry, and Public Resolution 44, Seventy-third Congress, and by mediating and conciliating to promote the settlement of controversies between employers and employees in the industry; and ( c ) To serve as a board of voluntary arbitration, or to create boards of voluntary arbitration, in any labor dispute between employers and employees in the iron and steel industry, provided that such dispute is voluntarily submitted for arbitration by both the parties thereto. ( d ) To exercise all the powers provided in said Public Resolution 44, Seventy-third Congress, for a board established under said resolution.

Sec. 3. #sec-3

Whenever, after its services are invoked by employers or employees, the Board, upon investigation, shall find that an election is necessary to determine by what person, persons, or organization employees desire to be represented, the Board is authorized to order and conduct an election by a secret ballot (including primary elections when deemed advisable), in order to determine by what person, persons, or organization the employees desire to be represented. After each such election the Board shall certify the results to all concerned, and the person, persons, or organization certified as the choice of the majority of those voting shall be accepted as the representative or representatives of said employees for the purpose of collective bargaining, without thereby denying to any individual employee or group of employees the right to present grievances, to confer with their employers, or otherwise to associate themselves and act for mutual aid or protection.

Sec. 4. #sec-4

The Board shall have access to such pay rolls and other documents as will enable the Board to prepare and certify lists of employees eligible to vote in elections. Sec. 5 ( a ) The Board, with the approval of the President, shall make and prescribe such rules and regulations as it may deem necessary for the exercise of the powers conferred in this order. ( b ) The Board shall make a report to the President through the Secretary of Labor of its activities, findings, investigations, and recommendations.

Sec. 6. #sec-6

The Board shall cease to exist when, in the opinion of the President, it has completed the duties it is authorized to perform. FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT Approval recommended: FRANCES PERKINS, The Secretary of Labor. The White House, June 28, 1934.

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Referenced By Later Executive Orders (2)

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

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 6751 (June 28, 1934), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-6751-establishing-the-national-steel-labor-relations-board.