★
Executive Orders Historical Archive
Cite
Executive Order 9190 🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority Constitutional Fidelity (+0.23) 📜 Art. I §8: Delegated Tariff & Commerce Execution

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

•
Thursday, July 2, 1942
•
5 min read (1,079 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 5 min read (1,079 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

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 temporary detail of United States employees, possessing special qualifications, to governments of American republics and the Philippines, and for other purposes', approved May 25, 1938" (53 Stat. 652), I hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of State to administer the said act of May 3, 1939, in accordance with the following regulations: 1.

⚖️ Constitutional Footing
🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority
Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
📜 Art. I §8: Delegated Tariff & Commerce Execution
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises Sovereign State Governments & Localities 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 July 2, 1942, this order concerns Amending Executive Order No. 8197 of July 11, 1939, Prescribing Regulations Pertaining to the Administration of the Act of May 3, 1939. 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 temporary detail of United States employees, possessing special qualifications, to governments of American republics and the Philippines, and for…

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

▪

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 temporary detail of United States employees, possessing special qualifications, to governments of American republics and the Philippines, and for other purposes', approved May 25, 1938" (53 Stat. 652), I hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of State to administer the said act of May 3, 1939, in accordance with the following regulations: 1.

▪

Only officers and employees of the Government of the United States possessing special scientific or other technical or professional qualifications shall be assigned under the said act, and no assignment shall be effected except at the formal request of the foreign government concerned and in agreement therewith. 2.

▪

No officer or employee shall be assigned under any government other than the governments of the other American republics, the Commonwealth of the Philippines, and Liberia; and all references in this order to foreign governments shall relate only to the said governments. 3.

▪

All requests of foreign governments for the loan of the services of officers and employees of the Government of the United States shall be communicated through the diplomatic channel to the Secretary of State. 4.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises 🏛️ Sovereign State Governments & Localities 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners 🏛️ Foreign Nations & International Entities

Policy Areas & Topics

🏛️

The Framers' Constitutional Council

1787 Prism

Evaluating this order against the constitutional debates of 1787 and the limits of Article II executive power.

🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority)
§

"When the President acts pursuant to an express or implied authorization of Congress, his authority is at its maximum, for it includes all that he possesses in his own right plus all that Congress can delegate."

— Justice Robert H. Jackson, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952) Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
JM

James Madison

Separation of Powers & Legislative Primacy

"The constitutional magistracy was designed not to invent policy, but to be the faithful instrument of the laws passed by the people's representatives." — Speech in the First Congress (1789)

Madison would approve the structural posture of this order. The President acts strictly in subordination to statutory authority granted under Article II, Section 3 ("take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed"). The checks and balances hold firm because the policy origin remains with the legislature.

Madisonian Stance: Concurring (Statutory)
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: Supportive of Execution
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
31 / 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

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

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

Low Friction

The President operates strictly as the constitutional Chief Executive, carrying out policy established by Congress with strong statutory backing.

Benchmark: Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
⚖️ 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
1,079
6,631 characters
Estimated Read Time
5 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
22.4
Post-Graduate Legal
Language Tone Score
+0.23
Constitutional Fidelity
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

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 temporary detail of United States employees, possessing special qualifications, to governments of American republics and the Philippines, and for other purposes', approved May 25, 1938" (53 Stat. 652), I hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of State to administer the said act of May 3, 1939, in accordance with the following regulations: 1. Only officers and employees of the Government of the United States possessing special scientific or other technical or professional qualifications shall be assigned under the said act, and no assignment shall be effected except at the formal request of the foreign government concerned and in agreement therewith. 2. No officer or employee shall be assigned under any government other than the governments of the other American republics, the Commonwealth of the Philippines, and Liberia; and all references in this order to foreign governments shall relate only to the said governments. 3. All requests of foreign governments for the loan of the services of officers and employees of the Government of the United States shall be communicated through the diplomatic channel to the Secretary of State. 4. If the Secretary of State considers that it would be in the public interest to comply with the requests, he shall so inform the appropriate department or agency and indicate the number of persons desired by the requesting government and the probable length of the assignment, and shall supply such other information as he may consider pertinent. The department or agency concerned shall submit to the Secretary of State the name or names of any of its officers or employees whose services are available, together with information respecting their education, previous experience, special qualifications (including language qualifications), basic salaries, family status, and such other information as the department or agency concerned may consider appropriate or as may be requested by the Secretary of State. 5. If, after consultation with the appropriate department or agency, the Secretary of State determines that the request of the foreign government may and should be complied with, he shall inform the requesting government of the names, positions, and qualifications of the personnel available and of the exact period for which their assignment could be authorized, and shall ascertain whether the detail of that personnel would be acceptable to the requesting government. The Secretary of State may, in his discretion, supply the requesting government with an estimate of the expenses involved in the assignment, and request it to indicate whether it desires to reimburse the Government of the United States in whole or in part for such expenses. 6. If personnel having the requisite qualifications are not available, or if the Secretary of State determines that the Government of the United States is unable for any reason to comply with the request of a foreign government, he shall so inform the requesting government. 7. The Secretary of State may, when he deems it in the public interest, accept such advances of funds as the foreign government concerned may express a desire to offer for use by the Government of the United States to pay the expenses of such detail in whole or in part, and the amount so received shall be transferred to the Secretary of the Treasury to be established as a trust fund, to be available for the purposes and under the provisions of the said act until the termination of the detail; and any unused balance of the trust fund shall be returned to the government making the advance. 8. All officers and employees detailed pursuant to the provisions of the said act shall receive from the department or agency in which they are employed reimbursement for travel expenses to and from the place of detail, and a monthly allowance determined by the Secretary of State to be adequate for quarters and subsistence; and if, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, the duties to be performed under the assignment render it necessary, officers and employees so detailed may also receive additional compensation from such department or agency in amounts to be determined by the Secretary of State but not to exceed 50 percent of the amounts of compensation they were receiving as officers or employees of the United States at the time of the assignment. Such monthly allowance and additional compensation shall be paid only for the period the officer or employee is actually in the foreign country serving under his assignment. 9. No officer or employee detailed pursuant to the provisions of the said act shall perform any services not contemplated by his assignment, and no such officer or employee shall receive any monthly allowance or additional compensation not authorized in accordance with these regulations. 10. The Secretary of State shall fix the period of each assignment and each extension of an assignment within the limitations provided in the said act. 11. The time required for travel to and from the place of assignment shall be included within the period of the assignment. 12. No reimbursement shall be accepted from any foreign government for any expenses not authorized in accordance with these regulations, and no funds advanced by a foreign government shall be used to pay any expenses not authorized in accordance with these regulations. 13. The Secretary of State is authorized to establish for administrative purposes such forms as he may consider necessary for the maintenance of uniform records. 14. The Secretary of State shall give each person assigned pursuant to the said act an appropriate letter of instruction, which shall include the name of the country to which the officer or employee is assigned; the period of the assignment; a description of the duties to be performed; the amount of the monthly allowance, and the amount of additional compensation if any, which has been authorized; and such additional instructions as the Secretary of State may deem appropriate. The Secretary of State shall also transmit to the department or agency concerned the information set forth in the letter of instruction. 15. The Secretary of State may prescribe such additional regulations not inconsistent herewith as he may deem necessary or desirable for carrying out the provisions of this order. FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT The White House, July 2, 1942.

📜

Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 9190 (July 2, 1942), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-9190-amending-executive-order-no-8197-july-11-1939-prescribing-regulations.