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Executive Orders Archive

Every President • 1789 to Present

Executive Order 8570 Constitutional Neutral (+0.02)

Executive Order 8570—Selective Service Regulations

Friday, October 18, 1940
30 min read (6,021 words)

Plain-English Translation & Framers' Constitutional Analysis

Early Statesman synthesis distilling legal jargon into practical meaning, statutory anchors, and structural constitutional impacts.

This executive order, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on 1940-10-18, establishes federal administrative policy concerning "Selective Service Regulations." It is an expansive, comprehensive regulatory directive mandating coordinated enforcement, detailed procedural standards, and formal agency compliance benchmarks across multiple federal departments.

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

By virtue of the authority vested in me by the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, approved September 16, 1940, I hereby prescribe Volume Six of regulations governing the administration of said Act, such regulations to be known as the Selective Service Regulations: VOLUME SIX—PHYSICAL STANDARDS CONTENTS Paragraph SECTION XLVI.
The physical standards governing the physical examination of registrants by the examining physicians of the Selective Service System shall be those which govern medical officers of the armed forces in the examination of selected men at Army and Navy induction stations.
The term "military" shall comprehend the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps, except where such construction would be unreasonable.
The term "physical," in such phrases as "physical examination," "physical defect," "physical condition," shall comprehend the physical, psychic, and nervous aspects, except where such construction would be unreasonable.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Sovereign State Governments & Localities 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners 🏛️ Public Health & Medical Institutions
Total Words
6,021
38,541 characters
Estimated Read Time
30 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
17.9
Post-Grad reading level
Constitutional Polarity
+0.02
Framers' Alignment index
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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 8570, Franklin D. Roosevelt (Oct 18, 1940). Available at https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-8570-selective-service-regulations.

Official Document Text

Source: The American Presidency Project (UCSB Archive)