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Executive Orders Historical Archive
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Executive Order 9781 🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority Constitutional Fidelity (+0.29) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 9781—Establishing the Air Coordinating Committee

Harry S Truman Harry S Truman
•
Thursday, September 19, 1946
•
2 min read (461 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 2 min read (461 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

There is hereby established the Air Coordinating Committee (hereinafter referred to as the Committee) which shall have as members one representative from each of the following-named agencies (hereinafter referred to as the participating agencies): The State, War, Post Office, Navy, and Commerce Departments and the Civil Aeronautics Board.

View all 4 directives ↓
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority
Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
Framers' constitutional debate ↓
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Armed Forces & Military Establishments 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 September 19, 1946, this order concerns Establishing the Air Coordinating Committee. 1. (a) There is hereby established the Air Coordinating Committee (hereinafter referred to as the Committee) which shall have as members one representative from each of the following-named agencies (hereinafter referred to as the participating agencies): The State, War, Post Office, Navy, and Commerce Departments and the Civil Aeronautics Board.

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 the Air Coordinating Committee (hereinafter referred to as the Committee) which shall have as members one representative from each of the following-named agencies (hereinafter referred to as the participating agencies): The State, War, Post Office, Navy, and Commerce Departments and the Civil Aeronautics Board.

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The members shall be designated by the respective heads of the participating agencies.

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The President shall name one of the members as the Chairman of the Committee.

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The Director of the Bureau of the Budget shall designate a representative of the Bureau as a non-voting member of the Committee.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Sovereign State Governments & Localities 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants

Policy Areas & Topics

🏷️ Infrastructure & Transportation
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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 1 (Maximum Authority)
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"When the President acts pursuant to an express or implied authorization of Congress, his authority is at its maximum, for it includes all that he possesses in his own right plus all that Congress can delegate."

— Justice Robert H. Jackson, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952) Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
JM

James Madison

Separation of Powers & Legislative Primacy

"The constitutional magistracy was designed not to invent policy, but to be the faithful instrument of the laws passed by the people's representatives." — Speech in the First Congress (1789)

Madison would approve the structural posture of this order. The President acts strictly in subordination to statutory authority granted under Article II, Section 3 ("take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed"). The checks and balances hold firm because the policy origin remains with the legislature.

Madisonian Stance: Concurring (Statutory)
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.

🛡️ High Constitutional Concordance
27 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8

Legislative Encroachment & Purse

Low Friction

Operates within delegated statutory execution without modifying legislative appropriations or taxing powers.

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

Low Friction

The President operates strictly as the constitutional Chief Executive, carrying out policy established by Congress with strong statutory backing.

Benchmark: Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
⚖️ Audit Synthesis

This order operates in close harmony with statutory authority and standard Article II supervisory execution.

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
461
2,973 characters
Estimated Read Time
2 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
22.9
Post-Graduate Legal
Language Tone Score
+0.29
Constitutional Fidelity
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

By virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States, and in order to provide for the fullest development and coordination of the aviation policies and activities of the Federal agencies, and in the interest of the internal management of the Government, it is hereby ordered as follows: 1. (a) There is hereby established the Air Coordinating Committee (hereinafter referred to as the Committee) which shall have as members one representative from each of the following-named agencies (hereinafter referred to as the participating agencies): The State, War, Post Office, Navy, and Commerce Departments and the Civil Aeronautics Board. The members shall be designated by the respective heads of the participating agencies. The President shall name one of the members as the Chairman of the Committee. The Director of the Bureau of the Budget shall designate a representative of the Bureau as a non-voting member of the Committee. (b) Each officer or body authorized under subparagraph 1(a) hereof to designate a member of the Committee shall also designate one or more alternate members, as may be necessary. (c) The Committee shall establish procedures to provide for participation, including participation in voting, by a representative of any agency not named in subparagraph 1 (a) hereof in connection with such aviation matters as are of substantial interest to that agency. 2. The Committee shall examine aviation problems and development affecting more than one participating agency; develop and recommend integrated policies to be carried out and actions to be taken by the participating agencies or by any other Government agency charged with responsibility in the aviation field; and, to the extent permitted by law, coordinate the aviation activities of such agencies expect activities relating to the exercise of quasi-judicial functions. 3. The Committee shall consult with Federal interagency boards and committees concerned in any manner with aviation activities; and consult with the representatives of the Untied States to the Provisional International Civil Aviation Organization or to the permanent successor thereof and recommend to the Department of State general policy directives and instructions for the guidance of the said representatives. 4. The Committee, after obtaining the views of the head of each agency concerned, shall submit to the president, together with the said views, (a) such of the Committee's recommendations on aviation policies as require the attention of the President by reason of their character or importance, (b) those important aviation questions the disposition of which is prevented by the inability of the agencies concerned to agree, (c) an annual report of the Committee's activities during each calendar year, to be submitted not later than January 31 of the next succeeding year, and (d) such interim reports as may be necessary or desirable. HARRY S. TRUMAN

THE WHITE HOUSE, #signature

September 19, 1946

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Referenced By Later Executive Orders (5)

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

Amends Executive Order 10796—Amendment of Executive Order No. 10655 Relating to the Air Coordinating Committee
Dwight D. Eisenhower • 1958-12-24
Amends Executive Order 10655—Air Coordinating Committee
Dwight D. Eisenhower • 1956-01-28
Amends Executive Order 10438—Transferring Certain Functions of the National Security Resources Board and of the Chairman Thereof to the Director of Defense Mobilization
Dwight D. Eisenhower • 1953-03-13
References Executive Order 10360—Amendment of Executive Order No. 9781, Establishing the Air Coordinating Committee
Harry S Truman • 1952-06-11
References Executive Order 9990—Enlarging the Membership of the Air Coordinating Committee to Include a Representative of the Treasury Department
Harry S Truman • 1948-08-21
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Scholarly & Legal Citations 

Exec. Order No. 9781 (Sept. 19, 1946), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-9781-establishing-the-air-coordinating-committee.