By virtue of the authority vested in me by section 16 of the act of May 22, 1917, 40 Stat. 87 (U.S.C., title 33, sec. 855), and as President of the United States, and in view of the existing national emergency, it is hereby ordered as follows: 1. The following-named commissioned officers are hereby transferred from the Coast and Geodetic Survey to the service and jurisdiction of the War Department: Ensign Francis X. Popper Lieutenant John C. Ellerbe, Jr. Lieutenant Edward R. McCarthy Lieutenant James D. Thurmond Lieutenant Commander Leo C. Wilder 2. The following-named commissioned officers are hereby transferred from the Coast and Geodetic Survey to the service and jurisdiction of the Navy Department: Ensign Edward G. Cunney Ensign Norman Porter Ensign G. Albion Smith Ensign Lorin P. Woodcock Lieutenant (jg) William R. Jackson Lieutenant (jg) William N. Martin Lieutenant Roswell C. Bolstad Lieutenant Horace G. Conerly Lieutenant Robert A. Earle Lieutenant Fred A. Riddell Lieutenant Emmett H. Sheridan Lieutenant Commander Edgar H. Bernstein Captain Frederick B. T. Siems Captain Paul C. Whitney 3. The above-named officers shall, while under the jurisdiction of the War or Navy Department, serve under their commissions in the Coast and Geodetic Survey, and while so serving shall constitute a part of the active military or naval forces of the United States and shall be under direct orders of the War or Navy Department and subject to the laws, regulations, and orders for the government of the Army or Navy so far as they may be applicable. 4. The above-named officers shall be returned to the Coast and Geodetic Survey when the present national emergency ceases to exist. FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT The White House, June 30, 1942.
Executive Order 9187 ⚖️⚠️ Zone 3: Lowest Ebb Constitutional Friction / Overreach (-0.19)
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief / War Prerogative Tension
Executive Order 9187—Transferring Certain Personnel From the Coast and Geodetic Survey to the War and Navy Departments
Executive Brief • At a Glance
⏱️ 1 min read (283 words) •
● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate
The following-named commissioned officers are hereby transferred from the Coast and Geodetic Survey to the service and jurisdiction of the War Department: Ensign Francis X. Popper Lieutenant John C. Ellerbe, Jr. Lieutenant Edward R. McCarthy Lieutenant James D. Thurmond Lieutenant Commander Leo C. Wilder 2.
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️⚠️ Zone 3: Lowest Ebb
Incompatible with Expressed Will of Congress or High Friction
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief / War Prerogative Tension
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Armed Forces & Military Establishments 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 June 30, 1942, this order concerns Transferring Certain Personnel From the Coast and Geodetic Survey to the War and Navy Departments. The following-named commissioned officers are hereby transferred from the Coast and Geodetic Survey to the service and jurisdiction of the War Department: Ensign Francis X. Popper Lieutenant John C. Ellerbe, Jr. Lieutenant Edward R. McCarthy Lieutenant James D. Thurmond Lieutenant Commander Leo C. Wilder 2.
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
▪
The following-named commissioned officers are hereby transferred from the Coast and Geodetic Survey to the service and jurisdiction of the War Department: Ensign Francis X. Popper Lieutenant John C. Ellerbe, Jr. Lieutenant Edward R. McCarthy Lieutenant James D. Thurmond Lieutenant Commander Leo C. Wilder 2.
▪
The above-named officers shall, while under the jurisdiction of the War or Navy Department, serve under their commissions in the Coast and Geodetic Survey, and while so serving shall constitute a part of the active military or naval forces of the United States and shall be under direct orders of the War or Navy Department and subject to the laws, regulations, and orders for the government of the Army or Navy so far as they may be applicable. 4.
▪
The above-named officers shall be returned to the Coast and Geodetic Survey when the present national emergency ceases to exist.
Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted
🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments
🏛️ 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 3 (Lowest Ebb)
§
"When the President takes measures incompatible with the expressed or implied will of Congress, his power is at its lowest ebb."
— Justice Robert H. Jackson, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952) Incompatible with Expressed Will of Congress or High Friction
JM
James Madison
Separation of Powers & Legislative Primacy
"The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands... may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny." — Federalist No. 47 (1788)
Madison would express grave alarm over this order. By asserting independent authority in tension with legislative limits or the Bill of Rights, the Executive risks collapsing the separation of powers into unilateral rule. Under the Madisonian model, no emergency justifies the Executive substituting its decree for a deliberative Act of Congress.
Madisonian Stance: Strict Dissent (Overreach)
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 purse and the sword ought never to be in the same hands... nor the liberties of the citizen placed at the pleasure of a single magistrate." — Virginia Ratifying Convention (1788)
George Mason and the Anti-Federalists would sound a fierce warning. They feared that Article II would inevitably evolve into an elective monarchy. When an executive order impacts private rights, property, or civil liberties without individualized judicial process, Mason would see their darkest predictions verified.
Anti-Federalist Stance: Vehement Objection
📐
Five Measurable "Constitutional Friction" Dimensions
An objective audit measuring potential separation-of-powers tension against the United States Constitution and established Supreme Court doctrine.
⚠️ Elevated Constitutional Friction
59 / 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
High Friction
Executive Scope & Faithfulness
Invokes broad unilateral or emergency executive authorities that test the constitutional boundary of the Take Care Clause.
Benchmark: Faithfully execute laws enacted by Congress vs. unilateral decree.
Dimension 3 • 10th Amendment
High Friction
Federalism & State Sovereignty
Creates friction with the Tenth Amendment by conditioning state grants, mandating local compliance, or preempting state police powers.
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
High Friction
Youngstown Jacksonian Tier
The order asserts independent Article II prerogative against statutory constraints, reallocates funds without explicit appropriation, or stretches executive power into realms constitutionally reserved to the legislature or judiciary.
Benchmark: Incompatible with Expressed Will of Congress or High Friction
⚖️
Audit Synthesis
This directive engages significant constitutional friction across statutory authorization, legislative prerogatives, or individual liberties.
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
283
1,744 characters
Estimated Read Time
1 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
9
High School
Text size:
🔗
Referenced By Later Executive Orders (2)
Subsequent presidents who cited, amended, continued, or revoked this directive in later orders.
Franklin D. Roosevelt • 1943-02-23
Franklin D. Roosevelt • 1942-09-03
Related Executive Orders
Other executive actions signed by Franklin D. Roosevelt around this period.
EO 9188 Jun 30, 1942
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 9188—Suspending Certain Statutory Provisions Relating to Employment in the Canal Zone
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
I hereby suspend, effective July 1, 1942, compliance with the provisions of the said sections during the continuance of any of the wars in which the United States is now engaged.
Franklin D. Roosevelt High School • 1m
EO 9190 Jul 2, 1942
🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority) Fidelity (+0.23)
Executive Order 9190—Amending Executive Order No. 8197 of July 11, 1939, Prescribing Regulations Pertaining to the Administration of the Act of May 3, 1939
📜 Art. I §8: Delegated Tariff & Commerce Execution
Executive Order No. 8197 of July 11, 1939 (4 F.R. 2953), is hereby amended to read as follows: By virtue of the power vested in me as President of the United States, and by the act approved May 3, 1939, entitled "An Act to amend the Act entitled 'An Act authorizing the…
Franklin D. Roosevelt Post-Graduate Legal • 5m
EO 9189 Jul 2, 1942
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 9189—Suspending Certain Statutory Provisions Relating to Employment in the Canal Zone
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
I hereby suspend, from and including the effective date of said act, compliance with the provisions of the said section during the continuance of any of the wars in which the United States is now engaged.
Franklin D. Roosevelt Post-Graduate Legal • 1m
EO 9192 Jul 3, 1942
🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 9192—Amending Executive Order No. 9140 of April 20, 1942, Establishing the Safford National Wildlife Refuge
📜 10th Amend: Intergovernmental Federalism Cooperation
Subject to valid existing rights, jurisdiction over the acquired lands, together with improvements thereon within the following-described area, comprising 240 acres, more or less, in Graham County, Arizona, be, and it is hereby, transferred to the Department of the Interior…
Franklin D. Roosevelt Post-Graduate Legal • 1m
EO 9191 Jul 3, 1942
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 9191—Amending the Foreign Service Regulations of the United States
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
By virtue of the authority vested in me by section 1752 of the Revised Statutes of the United States (22 U.S.C. 132), section VI-1 (a) of the Foreign Service Regulations of the United States is hereby amended by renumbering subparagraphs (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), and (7) thereof…
Franklin D. Roosevelt High School • 1m
EO 9186 Jun 27, 1942
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 9186—Authorizing the Federal Works Administration To Acquire and Dispose of Property
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
The Federal Works Administrator, or any officer of the Federal Works Agency acting in the absence or disability of the Administrator, is hereby authorized to exercise the authority contained in the said Title II of the Second War Powers Act, 1942, to acquire, use, and dispose…
Franklin D. Roosevelt Post-Graduate Legal • 1m
📜
Scholarly & Legal Citations
Exec. Order No. 9187 (June 30, 1942), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-9187-transferring-certain-personnel-from-the-coast-and-geodetic-survey-the.
