★
Executive Orders Historical Archive
🎲
Cite
Executive Order 9710 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 9710—Terminating the Office of Inter-american Affairs and Transferring Certain of Its Functions

Harry S Truman Harry S Truman
•
Wednesday, April 10, 1946
•
2 min read (421 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 2 min read (421 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

The Office of Inter-American Affairs (established as the Office of Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs by Executive Order No. 8840 of July 30, 1941, and renamed the Office of Inter-American Affairs by Executive Order No. 9532 of March 23, 1945), hereinafter referred to as the Office, is terminated. 2.

View all 4 directives ↓
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight
Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
Framers' constitutional debate ↓
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Sovereign State Governments & Localities Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants
Inspect unabridged text ↓

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 April 10, 1946, this order concerns Terminating the Office of Inter-american Affairs and Transferring Certain of Its Functions. The Office of Inter-American Affairs (established as the Office of Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs by Executive Order No. 8840 of July 30, 1941, and renamed the Office of Inter-American Affairs by Executive Order No. 9532 of March 23, 1945), hereinafter referred to as the Office, is terminated. 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

▪

The Office of Inter-American Affairs (established as the Office of Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs by Executive Order No. 8840 of July 30, 1941, and renamed the Office of Inter-American Affairs by Executive Order No. 9532 of March 23, 1945), hereinafter referred to as the Office, is terminated. 2.

▪

There are transferred to the Secretary of State all functions of the Director of the Office with respect to the following-named corporations, namely, the Institute of Inter-American Affairs, the Inter-American Educational Foundation, Inc., the Institute of Inter-American Transportation, the Inter-American Navigation Corporation, and Prencin-radio, Inc., together with all rights and interest, authority, and obligations of the Director and of his predecessors with respect to such corporations.

▪

All other functions of the Director are terminated.

▪

The Director shall, prior to the effective date of this order, take such steps as may be appropriate and necessary on his part to effectuate the provisions of this order, including the turning over to the Secretary of State of the capital stock of the said corporations. 3.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Sovereign State Governments & Localities 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants

Policy Areas & Topics

🏷️ Infrastructure & Transportation
🏛️

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)
§

"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
📐

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
47 / 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

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%).
ℹ️
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
421
2,575 characters
Estimated Read Time
2 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
15.7
College Level
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 as President of the United States, it is hereby ordered as follows: 1. The Office of Inter-American Affairs (established as the Office of Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs by Executive Order No. 8840 of July 30, 1941, and renamed the Office of Inter-American Affairs by Executive Order No. 9532 of March 23, 1945), hereinafter referred to as the Office, is terminated. 2. There are transferred to the Secretary of State all functions of the Director of the Office with respect to the following-named corporations, namely, the Institute of Inter-American Affairs, the Inter-American Educational Foundation, Inc., the Institute of Inter-American Transportation, the Inter-American Navigation Corporation, and Prencin-radio, Inc., together with all rights and interest, authority, and obligations of the Director and of his predecessors with respect to such corporations. All other functions of the Director are terminated. The Director shall, prior to the effective date of this order, take such steps as may be appropriate and necessary on his part to effectuate the provisions of this order, including the turning over to the Secretary of State of the capital stock of the said corporations. 3. There are transferred to the Department of State (a) all of the functions of the Office with respect to the aforesaid corporations, (b) the duty of winding up any affairs relating to the Office and functions terminated by this order which shall remain unliquidated on the effective date of this order, (c) the records, property, and funds of the Office, and (d) so much of the personnel of the Office as shall remain therein on the effective date of this order. All other functions of the Office are terminated. 4. As soon as possible after the promulgation of this order the Secretary of State shall furnish the Director of the Office as the Secretary shall determine to be required by the Department of State for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this order; and the Director shall, prior to the effective date of this order, separate from the service or transfer to other Government agencies the personnel of the Office excluded from such personnel list. 5. Except as otherwise provided in this order, the provisions hereof shall take effect as of the opening of business May 20, 1946. 6. All provisions of prior Executive orders in conflict with this order are amended accordingly. HARRY S. TRUMAN

THE WHITE HOUSE, #signature

April 10, 1946

🔗

Referenced By Later Executive Orders (1)

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

References Executive Order 9766—Authorizing the Detail of an Army Officer for Military Duty with the Institute of Inter-American Affairs and the Inter-American Educational Foundation
Harry S Truman • 1946-07-31
📜

Scholarly & Legal Citations 

Exec. Order No. 9710 (Apr. 10, 1946), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-9710-terminating-the-office-inter-american-affairs-and-transferring.