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Executive Order 9809 🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority Constitutional Fidelity (+0.29) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 9809—Providing for the Disposition of Certain War Agencies

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Thursday, December 12, 1946
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7 min read (1,317 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 7 min read (1,317 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

Except as otherwise provided in this order, the following agencies and their functions are consolidated to form one agency in the Office of Emergency Management of the Executive Office of the President, which shall be known as the Office of Temporary Controls, namely: the Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion, the Office of Economic Stabilization, the Office of Price Administration, and the Civilian Production Administration.

⚖️ Constitutional Footing
🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority
Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants Financial Institutions & Monetary Authorities

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 12, 1946, this order concerns Providing for the Disposition of Certain War Agencies. For the purpose of further effectuating the transition from war to peace and in the interest of the internal management of the Government, as follows: 1. Except as otherwise provided in this order, the following agencies and their functions are consolidated to form one agency in the Office of Emergency Management of the Executive Office of the President, which shall be known as the Office of Temporary Controls…

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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Except as otherwise provided in this order, the following agencies and their functions are consolidated to form one agency in the Office of Emergency Management of the Executive Office of the President, which shall be known as the Office of Temporary Controls, namely: the Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion, the Office of Economic Stabilization, the Office of Price Administration, and the Civilian Production Administration.

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Consistent with applicable law, the Office of Temporary Controls shall be organized and its functions shall be administered in such manner as the head thereof may deem desirable. 2.

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There shall be at the head of the Office of Temporary Controls a Temporary Controls Administrator, hereafter referred to as the Administrator, who shall be appointed by the President and who shall receive a salary at the rate of $12,000 per annum unless the Congress shall otherwise provide.

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The functions hereby vested in the Administrator shall be deemed to include the authority to maintain in his own name civil proceedings relating to matters heretofore under the jurisdiction of the Price Administrator (including any such proceedings now pending). 3.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Financial Institutions & Monetary Authorities
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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.

⚖️ Discretionary Twilight Zone
36 / 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

Low Friction

Focuses on internal governmental operations with no direct impairment of private rights or property.

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 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
1,317
8,133 characters
Estimated Read Time
7 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
19.9
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 by the Constitution and statutes, including Title I of the First War Powers Act, 1941, Title III of the Second War Powers Act, 1941, section 201 (b) of the Emergency Price Control Act of 1942, as amended, and section 2 of the Stabilization Act of 1942, and as President of the United States, it is hereby ordered, for the purpose of further effectuating the transition from war to peace and in the interest of the internal management of the Government, as follows: 1. Except as otherwise provided in this order, the following agencies and their functions are consolidated to form one agency in the Office of Emergency Management of the Executive Office of the President, which shall be known as the Office of Temporary Controls, namely: the Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion, the Office of Economic Stabilization, the Office of Price Administration, and the Civilian Production Administration. Consistent with applicable law, the Office of Temporary Controls shall be organized and its functions shall be administered in such manner as the head thereof may deem desirable. 2. There shall be at the head of the Office of Temporary Controls a Temporary Controls Administrator, hereafter referred to as the Administrator, who shall be appointed by the President and who shall receive a salary at the rate of $12,000 per annum unless the Congress shall otherwise provide. Except as otherwise provided in this order, the functions of the Director of War Mobilization and Reconversion, the Economic Stabilization Director, the Price Administrator, and the Civilian Production Administrator, including such functions of the President as are now administered by the said officers, are vested in the Administrator. The functions hereby vested in the Administrator shall be deemed to include the authority to maintain in his own name civil proceedings relating to matters heretofore under the jurisdiction of the Price Administrator (including any such proceedings now pending). 3. (a) The advisory board provided for in section 102 of the War Mobilization and Reconversion Act of 1944 and its functions, which shall remain vested in such board, are transferred to the Office of Temporary Controls. (b) The Economic Stabilization Board (transferred to the Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion by Executive Order No. 9762 of July 25, 1946) and its functions are terminated. 4. The functions of the Director of War Mobilization and Reconversion under subsections (c) (1), (c) (2), (c) (3), and (c) (4) of section 101 of the War Mobilization and Reconversion Act of 1944 are transferred to the President. 5. The functions of the Director of the War Mobilization and Reconversion under the provisions of Executive Order No. 9568 of June 8, 1945 and of Executive Order No. 9604 of August 25, 1945 (with respect to the declassification, release, and publication of certain technical and scientific and industrial information which as been classified as secret, confidential or restricted), are transferred to the Secretary of Commerce. 6. The functions of the Director of War Mobilization and Reconversion under the provisions of Executive Order No. 9791 of October 17, 1946 (with respect to the study of scientific research and development activities), are transferred to the Executive Office of the President and shall be administered therein as the President may determine. 7. The functions of the Media Programming Division and the Motion Picture Division of the Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion, and the functions which were transferred from the Bureau of Special Services of the Office of War Information to the Bureau of the Budget by the provisions of paragraph 1 (b) of Executive Order No. 9608 of August 31, 1945, are transferred to the Office of Government Reports, which is re-established as an agency in the Executive Office of the President on the same basis and with the same functions as obtained immediately prior to the promulgation of Executive Order No. 9182 of June 13, 1942. The function of the Director of War Mobilization and Reconversion with respect to the functions of the said Divisions and the functions of the Director of the Bureau of the Budget with respect to the functions of the Bureau of the Budget are transferred.... 8. There are transferred to the Department of the Treasury (a) the functions of the Office of Contract Settlement, (b) the Appeal Board established under section 13 (d) of the Contract Settlement Act of 1944, (c) the Contract Settlement Advisory Board created by section 5 of said Act, and (d) the functions of such boards, which shall remain vested therein, respectively. The functions of the Director of Contract Settlement, and the functions of the Director of War Mobilization and Reconversion under section 101 (b) of the War Mobilization and Reconversion Act of 1944 with respect to the Office of Contract Settlement, are transferred to the Secretary of the Treasury. 9. The functions of the Financial Reporting Division of the Office of Price Administration, together with the functions of the Price Administrator with respect thereto, are transferred to the Federal Trade Commission. 10. (a) The National Wage Stabilization Board is terminated. (b) The function heretofore vested in the National Wage Stabilization Board pursuant to the provisions of section 5 (a) of the Stabilization Act of 1942, as amended, are transferred to the Department of the Treasury. (c) The functions under section 5 of the War Labor Disputes Act now vested in the National Wage Stabilization Board shall be administered by a special board or boards to be constituted as may be necessary by the Secretary of Labor from among the members of a panel to be appointed by the President for the purpose. (d) The tripartite Steel Commission (created by the National War Labor Board on March 30, 1945) shall continue to carry out its functions with the Department of Labor until such date as the Secretary of Labor may fix for its termination. (e) All other functions of the National Wage Stabilization Board are transferred to the Secretary of Labor. 11. The authority, records, property, and personnel which relate primarily to the functions redistributed by this order are transferred to the respective agencies in which functions are vested pursuant to the provisions of this order and the funds which relate primarily to such functions are transferred or otherwise made available to such respective agencies: Provided, That the Director of the Bureau of the Budget may in any case limit the records, property, personnel and funds to be so transferred or made available to so much thereof as he deems to be required for the administration of the transferred functions. Such further measures and dispositions as may be determined by the Director of the Bureau of the Budget to be necessary to effectuate the purposes and provisions of this paragraph shall be carried out in such manner as the Director of the Bureau of the Budget may direct and by such agencies as he may designate. All personnel transferred under the provisions of this order which the transferee agencies shall respectively find to be in excess of the personnel necessary for the administration of the functions transferred to such agencies by this order shall, if not retransferred under existing law to other positions in the Government, be separated from service. 12. All prior Executive orders or parts thereof in conflict with this order are amended accordingly. All other prior orders, regulations, rulings, directives, and other actions relating to any function or agency transferred by this order or issued by any such agency shall remain in effect except as they are inconsistent herewith or are hereafter amended or revoked under proper authority. 13. The provisions of this order shall become effective immediately except that the provisions of paragraph 10 hereof, and those of paragraph 11 to the extent that they relate to the functions referred to in paragraph 10, shall become effective on February 24, 1947. HARRY S. TRUMAN

THE WHITE HOUSE, #signature

December 12, 1946

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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. 9809 (Dec. 12, 1946), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-9809-providing-for-the-disposition-certain-war-agencies.