By virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the statutes of the United States, as President of the United States and Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, and in order further to unify and consolidate governmental activities relating to foreign economic affairs, it is hereby ordered as follows: 1. The functions of the War Food Administration and the Commodity Credit Corporation with respect to the procurement and development of food, food machinery, and other food facilities, in foreign countries, are transferred to and consolidated in the Foreign Economic Administration to be administered in accordance with the provisions of Executive Order No. 9380 of September 25, 1943. 2. The personnel, records, property, funds, contracts, assets, and liabilities of the Commodity Credit Corporation, determined by the Director of the Bureau of the Budget to be primarily concerned with the functions transferred to the Foreign Economic Administration by this order, shall be transferred, on such date or dates as the Director of the Bureau of the Budget shall determine, to the Foreign Economic Administration or to such subdivisions or corporations thereof as the Administrator of the Foreign Economic Administration shall designate. 3. Except as otherwise provided in this order, the procurement of food, food machinery, and other food facilities in foreign countries, by the Foreign Economic Administration, shall be performed consistently with directives issued to such Administration by the War Food Administrator with respect to food for human or animal consumption and by the War Food Administrator and the Chairman of the War Production Board jointly with respect to food for industrial uses. The War Food Administrator, or the War Food Administrator and the Chairman of the War Production Board jointly, as the case may be, may (1) set forth in such directives the quantities, specifications, priorities, and times and places of delivery relating to such procurement, and (2) append to such directives suggestions as to sources and prices relating to such procurement. The Administrator of the Foreign Economic Administration may from time to time advise the War Food Administrator, the Chairman of the War Production Board, and the Director of War Mobilization as to circumstances affecting procurement under such directives and as to steps which the Administrator of the Foreign Economic Administration deems will promote effective procurement by the Foreign Economic Administration of food, food machinery, and other food facilities in foreign countries for the purposes of the War Food Administration or the War Production Board. 4. (a) Nothing in this order shall authorize the War Food Administrator or the Chairman of the War Production Board to issue directives to the Foreign Economic Administration with respect to (1) the procurement and development of food, food machinery, and other food facilities in foreign countries for use in foreign countries, and (2) the preclusive procurement of foreign food, food machinery, and other food facilities vital to the enemy either for military or civilian needs. (b) The provisions of this order shall not affect the existing authority of the War Food Administrator or of the War Production Board with respect to priorities and allocations, or to define general policies, subject to the authority of the Office of War Mobilization Under paragraph 4 of Executive Order No. 9361 of July 15, 1943, with respect to the procurement and development of food, food machinery, and other food facilities in foreign countries for use in foreign countries. 5. As used in this order, (1) the word "food" shall have the meaning set forth in paragraph 10 of Executive Order No. 9280 of December 5, 1942, exclusive of sugar produced in the Caribbean area, and (2) the words "foreign countries" shall be deemed to exclude the Dominion of Canada. 6. All prior Executive orders and directives insofar as they are in conflict herewith are amended accordingly. This order shall take effect immediately except that the War Food Administration and the Commodity Credit Corporation shall continue to exercise their respective functions transferred under paragraph 1 of this order until such date or dates as the Administrator of the Foreign Economic Administration shall determine. FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT The White House, October 6, 1943.
Executive Order 9385—Foreign Food Procurement and Development
Executive Brief • At a Glance
The functions of the War Food Administration and the Commodity Credit Corporation with respect to the procurement and development of food, food machinery, and other food facilities, in foreign countries, are transferred to and consolidated in the Foreign Economic Administration to be administered in accordance with the provisions of Executive Order No. 9380 of September 25, 1943. 2.
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 October 6, 1943, this order concerns Foreign Food Procurement and Development. The functions of the War Food Administration and the Commodity Credit Corporation with respect to the procurement and development of food, food machinery, and other food facilities, in foreign countries, are transferred to and consolidated in the Foreign Economic Administration to be administered in accordance with the provisions of Executive Order No. 9380 of September 25, 1943. 2.
Key Directives & Operative Actions
The functions of the War Food Administration and the Commodity Credit Corporation with respect to the procurement and development of food, food machinery, and other food facilities, in foreign countries, are transferred to and consolidated in the Foreign Economic Administration to be administered in accordance with the provisions of Executive Order No. 9380 of September 25, 1943. 2.
The personnel, records, property, funds, contracts, assets, and liabilities of the Commodity Credit Corporation, determined by the Director of the Bureau of the Budget to be primarily concerned with the functions transferred to the Foreign Economic Administration by this order, shall be transferred, on such date or dates as the Director of the Bureau of the Budget shall determine, to the Foreign Economic Administration or to such subdivisions or corporations thereof as the Administrator of the Foreign Economic Administration shall designate. 3.
Except as otherwise provided in this order, the procurement of food, food machinery, and other food facilities in foreign countries, by the Foreign Economic Administration, shall be performed consistently with directives issued to such Administration by the War Food Administrator with respect to food for human or animal consumption and by the War Food Administrator and the Chairman of the War Production Board jointly with respect to food for industrial uses.
Nothing in this order shall authorize the War Food Administrator or the Chairman of the War Production Board to issue directives to the Foreign Economic Administration with respect to (1) the procurement and development of food, food machinery, and other food facilities in foreign countries for use in foreign countries, and (2) the preclusive procurement of foreign food, food machinery, and other food facilities vital to the enemy either for military or civilian needs.
Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted
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.
"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."
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.
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.
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.
Five Measurable "Constitutional Friction" Dimensions
An objective audit measuring potential separation-of-powers tension against the United States Constitution and established Supreme Court doctrine.
Legislative Encroachment & Purse
Administers commerce or fiscal programs requiring ongoing statutory delegation and legislative oversight.
Executive Scope & Faithfulness
Directs internal executive branch machinery, agency workflows, and federal personnel.
Federalism & State Sovereignty
Creates friction with the Tenth Amendment by conditioning state grants, mandating local compliance, or preempting state police powers.
Due Process & Individual Rights
Focuses on internal governmental operations with no direct impairment of private rights or property.
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.
This order operates within Justice Jackson’s Zone of Twilight, resting upon concurrent presidential authority or congressional silence.
Scholarly & Legal Citations
Exec. Order No. 9385 (Oct. 6, 1943), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-9385-foreign-food-procurement-and-development.