Whereas a continuing labor dispute following final action on a report by an emergency board now threatens a disruption of transportation services rendered by the Pacific Electric Railway Company of Los Angeles, California, Now, Therefore , by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the statutes and particularly by the First War Powers Act, 1941, as President of the United States and Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, it is hereby ordered as follows: 1. There is hereby established a Special Emergency Board of three members to be selected by me from the National Railway Labor panel who shall report to me what, if any, wage adjustments for employees of the Pacific Electric Railway Company of Los Angeles, California, should be made, within the limitations of the Act of October 2, 1942 and the Executive Orders and Directives issued thereunder. The Board's report shall be based upon the proceedings before the Emergency Board that reported to me May 21, 1943 on this dispute, the relevant, factual material in the Madris Report filed with the National Railway Labor panel September 10, 1943 and such further relevant evidence as the Special Emergency Board shall determine to receive. 2. The Special Emergency Board shall report to the President on or before October 15, 1943. Copies of the report shall be filed at the same time with the Economic Stabilization Director, the National War Labor Board, and the Commissioner of Internal Revenue. 3. The Economic Stabilization Director shall on behalf of himself or other Departments and Agencies concerned report to the President the effect of the recommendations on the general stabilization program. The report of the Economic Stabilization Director shall be made within ten days after the date on which the Special Emergency Board's report has been filed. At the time of the Director's report the recommendations of the Special Emergency Board in regard to proposed changes affecting wages and salary payments shall become effective, unless and except to the extent the Economic Stabilization Director otherwise directs. FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT The White House, September 23, 1943.
Executive Order 9379 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02)
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
Executive Order 9379—Executive Order Establishing a Special Emergency Board To Report on the Adjustment of Wages for Employees of the Pacific Electric Railway Company of Los Angeles, California
Executive Brief • At a Glance
⏱️ 2 min read (346 words) •
● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate
There is hereby established a Special Emergency Board of three members to be selected by me from the National Railway Labor panel who shall report to me what, if any, wage adjustments for employees of the Pacific Electric Railway Company of Los Angeles, California, should be made, within the limitations of the Act of October 2, 1942 and the Executive Orders and Directives issued thereunder.
⚖️ 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 Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants Financial Institutions & Monetary Authorities
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 September 23, 1943, this order concerns Executive Order Establishing a Special Emergency Board To Report on the Adjustment of Wages for Employees of the Pacific Electric Railway Company of Los Angeles, California. There is hereby established a Special Emergency Board of three members to be selected by me from the National Railway Labor panel who shall report to me what, if any, wage adjustments for employees of the Pacific Electric Railway Company of Los Angeles, California, should be made, within the limitations of the Act of October 2, 1942 and the Executive Orders and Directives issued thereunder.
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
▪
There is hereby established a Special Emergency Board of three members to be selected by me from the National Railway Labor panel who shall report to me what, if any, wage adjustments for employees of the Pacific Electric Railway Company of Los Angeles, California, should be made, within the limitations of the Act of October 2, 1942 and the Executive Orders and Directives issued thereunder.
▪
The Board's report shall be based upon the proceedings before the Emergency Board that reported to me May 21, 1943 on this dispute, the relevant, factual material in the Madris Report filed with the National Railway Labor panel September 10, 1943 and such further relevant evidence as the Special Emergency Board shall determine to receive. 2.
▪
The Special Emergency Board shall report to the President on or before October 15, 1943.
▪
Copies of the report shall be filed at the same time with the Economic Stabilization Director, the National War Labor Board, and the Commissioner of Internal Revenue. 3.
Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted
🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments
🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants
🏛️ Financial Institutions & Monetary Authorities
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
"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
📐
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
37 / 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
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
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
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
346
2,163 characters
Estimated Read Time
2 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
20.4
Post-Graduate Legal
Text size:
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EO 9378 Sep 23, 1943
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
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Paragraph 1 of Executive Order No. 9063 of February 16, 1942, is hereby amended to read as follows: "1. The United States Civil Service Commission is authorized to adopt and prescribe such special procedures and regulations as it may determine to be necessary in connection with…
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I hereby direct the War Shipping Administrator to relinquish possession of the said plant to the Atlantic Basin Iron Works, Incorporated, and to issue the necessary orders for carrying out this direction.
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📜 Art. I §8: Delegated Tariff & Commerce Execution
The following changes be, and they are hereby, made in the customs field organization 2: 1. The designation of the town of Westby, Montana, as a customs port of entry in Customs Collection District Number 33 (Montana and Idaho), is revoked. 2.
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⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 9381—Amendment of Executive Order No. 9250, Entitled "Providing for the Stabilizing of the National Economy"
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
Executive Order No. 9250 of October 3, 1942, entitled "Providing for the Stabilizing of the National Economy", be, and it is hereby, amended as follows: 1.
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EO 9380 Sep 25, 1943
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
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📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
There is established in the Office for Emergency Management of the Executive Office of the President the Foreign Economic Administration (hereinafter referred to as the Administration), at the head of which shall be an Administrator. 2.
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🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority) Constitutional Neutral
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📜 10th Amend: Intergovernmental Federalism Cooperation
John W. Bailey, Junior, who resigned his position as an officer in the Foreign Service of the United States on March 31, 1935, to accept appointment to a position in the Department of State, be, and he is hereby, reinstated in the Foreign Service of the United States in Class…
Franklin D. Roosevelt College Level • 1m
📜
Scholarly & Legal Citations
Exec. Order No. 9379 (Sept. 23, 1943), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-9379-executive-order-establishing-special-emergency-board-report-the.
