Executive Order No. 9528 of March 2, 1945, providing for a change in the order of succession of officers to act as Secretary of the Navy, is hereby revoked.
Early Statesman synthesis distilling legal jargon into practical meaning, statutory anchors, and structural constitutional impacts.
Signed by President Harry S Truman on August 13, 1945, this order concerns Revoking Executive Order No. 9528 Which Provides a Change in the Order of Succession of Officers to Act as Secretary of the Navy. Executive Order No. 9528 of March 2, 1945, providing for a change in the order of succession of officers to act as Secretary of the Navy, is hereby revoked.
Executive Order No. 9528 of March 2, 1945, providing for a change in the order of succession of officers to act as Secretary of the Navy, is hereby revoked.
Evaluating 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."
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.
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.
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.
An objective audit measuring potential separation-of-powers tension against the United States Constitution and established Supreme Court doctrine.
Operates within delegated statutory execution without modifying legislative appropriations or taxing powers.
Exercises standard supervisory executive authority to faithfully execute existing statutes.
Creates friction with the Tenth Amendment by conditioning state grants, mandating local compliance, or preempting state police powers.
Focuses on internal governmental operations with no direct impairment of private rights or property.
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.
By virtue of the authority vested in me by Title I of the First War Powers Act, 1941, approved December 18, 1941 (55 Stat. 838), and other applicable statutes, and as Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy o the United States and as President of the United States, Executive Order No. 9528 of March 2, 1945, providing for a change in the order of succession of officers to act as Secretary of the Navy, is hereby revoked. HARRY S. TRUMAN
August 13, 1945
1 order cited directly in this text, plus related actions from this administration.
Paragraph 6 of Executive Order No. 9096 of March 12, 1942, providing for the reorganization of the Navy Department and the Naval Service affecting the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations and the Commander in Chief, United States Fleet, is hereby amended so as to read as…
Franklin D. Roosevelt Section I B of Executive Order No. 9240 of September 9, 1942, entitled "Regulations Relating to Overtime Wage Compensation", be, and it is hereby, amended to read as follows: "No premium wage for work on customary holidays except that time and one-half wage compensation shall…
Harry S Truman Hereafter no person shall be accorded as classified civil-service status on the basis of his name having been reached on a civil-service register unless he shall have been regularly selected for appointment from a certificate issued by the Civil Service Commission for…
Harry S Truman Section IB of Executive Order No. 9240 of September 9, 1942, entitled "Regulations Relating to Overtime Wage Compensation", be, and it is hereby, amended to read as follows: "No premium wage or extra compensation shall be paid for work on customary holidays except that time and…
Harry S Truman The guiding policies of all departments and agencies of the Government concerned with the problems arising out of the transition from war to peace shall be: A. To assist in the maximum production of goods and services required to meet domestic and foreign needs, (1) by assuring…
Harry S Truman Executive Order No. 9240, as amended, entitled "Regulations Relating to Overtime Wage Compensation" is hereby revoked, effective as of the date of this order.
Harry S Truman Exec. Order No. 9596 (Aug. 13, 1945), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-9596-revoking-executive-order-no-9528-which-provides-change-the-order.
