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Executive Order 9385 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 9385—Foreign Food Procurement and Development

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Wednesday, October 6, 1943
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3 min read (688 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 3 min read (688 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

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.

⚖️ 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 Foreign Nations & International Entities

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.

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

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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.

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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.

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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

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Foreign Nations & International Entities
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The Framers' Constitutional Council

1787 Prism

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

⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight)
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"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
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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
50 / 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

Moderate Friction

Directs internal executive branch machinery, agency workflows, and federal personnel.

Benchmark: Faithfully execute laws enacted by Congress vs. unilateral decree.
Dimension 3 • 10th Amendment

Federalism & State Sovereignty

High Friction

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

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

Moderate Friction

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%).
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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
688
4,394 characters
Estimated Read Time
3 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
23.7
Post-Graduate Legal
Language Tone Score
+0.02
Constitutional Neutral
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

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.

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 9385 (Oct. 6, 1943), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-9385-foreign-food-procurement-and-development.