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Executive Order 9672 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 9672—Establishing the National Wage Stabilization Board and Terminating the National War Labor Board

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Monday, December 31, 1945
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4 min read (797 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 4 min read (797 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

There is hereby established within the Department of Labor a Board to be known as the National Wage Stabilization Board, hereinafter referred to as the Board.

⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight
Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants Private Citizens & Property Owners

Plain-English Translation & Framers' Constitutional Analysis

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

Signed by President Harry S Truman on December 31, 1945, this order concerns Establishing the National Wage Stabilization Board and Terminating the National War Labor Board. 1. (a) There is hereby established within the Department of Labor a Board to be known as the National Wage Stabilization Board, hereinafter referred to as the Board. The Board shall be composed of six members to be appointed by the President (two of whom, including the Chairman and the Vice-Chairman, shall be representative of the public, two representative of employees, and two representative of employers), and…

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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There is hereby established within the Department of Labor a Board to be known as the National Wage Stabilization Board, hereinafter referred to as the Board.

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The Board shall be composed of six members to be appointed by the President (two of whom, including the Chairman and the Vice-Chairman, shall be representative of the public, two representative of employees, and two representative of employers), and such additional members as may, in view of the necessities of the business of the Board, be appointed from time to time by unanimous action of a quorum of the Board to serve as alternates representing, respectively, the public, employees, and employers.

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Six members, equally representative of the three groups comprising the Board, shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, and the Board may act with not more than twelve members likewise equally representative of such three groups.

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Members of the Board (including alternates) shall receive actual transportation expenses and other necessary expenses, and not to exceed $25 per diem in lieu of subsistence, whether or not in travel status, on such days as they are actually engaged in the performance of duties pursuant to this order without other compensation from the United States.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners

Policy Areas & Topics

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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
42 / 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

Low Friction

Exercises standard supervisory executive authority to faithfully execute existing statutes.

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

Federalism & State Sovereignty

Moderate Friction

Engages state and local partners in cooperative federalism programs.

Benchmark: Police powers and un-delegated responsibilities reserved to the States.
Dimension 4 • 5th & 14th Amendments

Due Process & Individual Rights

Moderate Friction

Applies regulatory or compliance standards to private contractors or commercial entities.

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
797
4,920 characters
Estimated Read Time
4 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
19.3
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 Statutes, including Title I of the First War Powers Act, 1941, and the Stabilization Act of 1942, as amended, and as President of the United States, it is hereby ordered as follows: 1. (a) There is hereby established within the Department of Labor a Board to be known as the National Wage Stabilization Board, hereinafter referred to as the Board. The Board shall be composed of six members to be appointed by the President (two of whom, including the Chairman and the Vice-Chairman, shall be representative of the public, two representative of employees, and two representative of employers), and such additional members as may, in view of the necessities of the business of the Board, be appointed from time to time by unanimous action of a quorum of the Board to serve as alternates representing, respectively, the public, employees, and employers. (b) Six members, equally representative of the three groups comprising the Board, shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, and the Board may act with not more than twelve members likewise equally representative of such three groups. (c) Members of the Board (including alternates) shall receive actual transportation expenses and other necessary expenses, and not to exceed $25 per diem in lieu of subsistence, whether or not in travel status, on such days as they are actually engaged in the performance of duties pursuant to this order without other compensation from the United States. (d) The Board shall be administered as an organizational entity within the Department of Labor and shall be independent with respect to its policies, decisions, and control of personnel. 2. The Board shall have all the present powers, functions, and responsibilities of the National War Labor Board (established by Executive Order No. 9017 of January 12, 1942, and transferred to the Department of Labor by Executive Order No. 9617 of September 19, 1945 relating to the stabilization of wages and salaries for the purpose of carrying out the objectives authorized and directed by the Emergency Price Control Act of 1942, as amended, and the Stabilization Act of 1942, as amended, in accordance with the policies and procedures provided by Executive orders and regulations issued pursuant to these Acts. The Wage Adjustment Board for the building and construction industry shall continue to perform its present functions with respect to the stabilization of wages and salaries in the building and construction industry. 3. Any dispute cases on which final action may not have been taken by the national War Labor Board prior to its termination shall be returned by said board to the parties. The Board shall have all the powers, functions and responsibilities of the National War Labor Board relating to the disposition of dispute cases for the following purposes only: (a) The continued operation of the tripartite commissions, heretofore established by the national War Labor Board to carry out its directive orders relating to the steel, textile, and meat-packing industries, with the duties, powers and responsibilities heretofore conferred on said agencies, subject to any modification thereof which may be made by the Board; (b) The appointment of arbitrators as may be necessary under National War Labor Board orders or collective bargaining agreements; (c) The disposition of applications under Section 5 of the War Labor Disputes Act and the receipt of notices under Section 8 of that Act. The Board shall have the powers of subpoena conferred upon the National War Labor Board by Section 7 of the War Labor Disputes Act. 4. The personnel, records, property, funds, and outstanding obligations of the National War Labor Board are hereby transferred to the National Wage Stabilization Board in the Department of Labor and the National War Labor Board is hereby terminated. 5. This order shall be deemed an amendment of and substitution for paragraph 2(b) of Executive Order No. 9617 of September 19, 1945. All other provisions of that order, to the extent consistent herewith, are hereby ratified and confirmed. All provisions of prior Executive orders in conflict with this order are amended accordingly. The present effective rules, regulations, procedures, and orders of the National War Labor Board relating to any function vested in the national Wage Stabilization Board by this order shall continue to be effective in accordance with their terms except as they may be inconsistent with this order or be modified or revoked from time to time by the Board. Any matter relating to the functions transferred by this order and now pending before the National War Labor Board may be acted upon by the National Wage stabilization Board with the same validity and effect as through such action had been taken by the National War Labor Board. HARRY S. TRUMAN

THE WHITE HOUSE, #signature

December 31, 1945

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Referenced By Later Executive Orders (1)

Subsequent presidents who cited, amended, continued, or revoked this directive in later orders.

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 9672 (Dec. 31, 1945), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-9672-establishing-the-national-wage-stabilization-board-and-terminating.