Executive Order 9416 Constitutional Neutral (+0.02)

Executive Order 9416—Authorizing the Secretary of the Navy to Take Possession of and Operate the Plants of York Safe & Lock Company, York County, Pennsylvania

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Friday, January 21, 1944

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2 min read (351 words)

Plain-English Translation & Framers' Constitutional Analysis

Early Statesman synthesis distilling legal jargon into practical meaning, statutory anchors, and structural constitutional impacts.

This executive order, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on 1944-01-21, establishes federal administrative policy concerning "Authorizing the Secretary of the Navy to Take Possession of and Operate the Plants of York Safe & Lock Company, York County, Pennsylvania." It outlines operative directives for executive department officers, delegating enforcement responsibilities and establishing official governance guidelines.

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

▪ Formal executive instruction issued by the President establishing official administrative policy on Authorizing the Secretary of the Navy to Take Possession of and Operate the Plants of York Safe & Lock Company, York County, Pennsylvania.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants

Total Words

351

2,087 characters

Estimated Read Time

2 min

@ 200 words / min

Flesch-Kincaid

32.2

Post-Grad reading level

Constitutional Polarity

+0.02

Framers' Alignment index

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 9416, Franklin D. Roosevelt (Jan 21, 1944). Available at https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-9416-authorizing-the-secretary-the-navy-take-possession-and-operate-the.

Official Document Text

Source: The American Presidency Project (UCSB Archive)

Original Source →

Whereas York Safe & Lock Company has entered into contracts with the War Department and the Navy Department for the manufacture of war materials essential to the prosecution of the war and has been provided by the Government with extensive facilities for the performance of said contracts; and Whereas it is deemed essential that the plants of York Safe & Lock Company, located in York County, Pennsylvania, be taken over for use and operation by the United States of America in order that they may be effectively operated in the manufacture of such war materials: Now, Therefore, I, Franklin D. Roosevelt , pursuant to the powers vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, including Section 9 of the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, as amended, as President of the United States and Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of the Navy immediately to take possession of and operate the plants and facilities of York Safe & Lock Company located in York County, Pennsylvania, in order to produce effectively essential war material required by the United States and to do all things necessary and incidental to that end. The Secretary of the Navy may exercise the authority herein conferred through and with the aid of such person or persons, corporations or instrumentalities as he may designate and may select and hire such employees and agents including a competent civilian adviser on industrial relations, as are necessary to carry out the operation of this order and in furtherance of the purposes of this order the Secretary of the Navy may exercise any existing contractual or other existing rights of said company incident to the operation of said plants and take such other steps as may be necessary or desirable. Possession of the premises referred to under this order will be terminated by the President within 60 days after he determines that such plants will be operated privately in a manner consistent with the war effort. FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT The White House, January 21, 1944.