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Executive Order 9918 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations

Executive Order 9918—Creating an Emergency Board to Investigate Disputes Between the Alabama, Tennessee and Northern Railroad Company and Other Carriers, and Certain of Their Employees

Harry S Truman Harry S Truman
•
Wednesday, December 31, 1947
•
3 min read (519 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 3 min read (519 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

Each of the carriers involved shall be given independent consideration in such investigation, and the said labor organizations shall be permitted to function as a unit in proceedings before the board.

View all 4 directives ↓
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight
Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations
Framers' constitutional debate ↓
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Executive Branch Departments General Body of the People
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 December 31, 1947, this order concerns Creating an Emergency Board to Investigate Disputes Between the Alabama, Tennessee and Northern Railroad Company and Other Carriers, and Certain of Their Employees. By virtue of the authority vested in me by section 10 of the Railway Labor Act, as amended (45 U.S.C. 160) I hereby create a board of three members, to be appointed by me, to investigate the said disputes. Each of the carriers involved shall be given independent consideration in such investigation, and the said labor organizations shall be permitted to function as a unit in proceedings before the board.

Constitutional Assessment: This action represents an orderly exercise of Article II administrative discretion, managing the internal machinery and personnel of the executive branch without abridging the ancient liberties of the people.

Key Directives & Operative Actions

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Each of the carriers involved shall be given independent consideration in such investigation, and the said labor organizations shall be permitted to function as a unit in proceedings before the board.

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The board shall report its findings to the President with respect to the said disputes within thirty days from the date of this order.

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The report of the board shall contain separate and independent findings with respect to each of the carriers involved.

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As provided by section 10 of the Railway Labor Act, as amended, from this date and for thirty days after the board has made its report to the President, no change, except by agreement, shall be made by any of the carriers involved or their employees in the conditions out of which the said disputes arose.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Executive Branch Departments 🏛️ General Body of the People

Policy Areas & Topics

🏷️ Infrastructure & Transportation 🏷️ Labor & Employment
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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)
§

"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

"A feeble Executive implies a feeble execution of the government; and a government ill executed, whatever it may be in theory, must be, in practice, a bad government." — Federalist No. 70 (1788)

Hamilton would view this directive as the natural and indispensable functioning of administrative leadership. Without the power to coordinate agencies, manage personnel, and resolve operational ambiguities, the modern presidency would be reduced to an impotent figurehead.

Hamiltonian Stance: Defends Vigor & Dispatch
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
34 / 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

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
519
3,559 characters
Estimated Read Time
3 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
25.8
Post-Graduate Legal
Language Tone Score
+0.02
Constitutional Neutral
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

WHEREAS disputes exist between the Alabama, Tennessee and Northern Railroad Company and certain other carriers designated in list A attached hereto and made a part hereof, and certain of their employees represented by the seventeen cooperating nonoperating labor organizations designated in list B attached hereto and made a part hereof; and WHEREAS these disputes have not heretofore been adjusted under the provisions of the Railway Labor Act, as amended; and WHEREAS these disputes, in the judgment of the national Mediation Board, threaten substantially to interrupt interstate commerce to a degree such as to deprive the country of essential transportation service:

NOW, THEREFORE, #now-therefore

by virtue of the authority vested in me by section 10 of the Railway Labor Act, as amended (45 U.S.C. 160) I hereby create a board of three members, to be appointed by me, to investigate the said disputes. Each of the carriers involved shall be given independent consideration in such investigation, and the said labor organizations shall be permitted to function as a unit in proceedings before the board. No member of the said board shall be pecuniarily or otherwise interested in any organization of railway employees or any carrier. The board shall report its findings to the President with respect to the said disputes within thirty days from the date of this order. The report of the board shall contain separate and independent findings with respect to each of the carriers involved. As provided by section 10 of the Railway Labor Act, as amended, from this date and for thirty days after the board has made its report to the President, no change, except by agreement, shall be made by any of the carriers involved or their employees in the conditions out of which the said disputes arose. LIST A Alabama, Tennessee and Northern Railroad Company Atlantic and East Carolina Railway Company Belfast and Moosehead Lake Railroad Chicago, Aurora and Elgin Railway Company Chicago, North Shore and Milwaukee Railway Company Colorado and Wyoming Railway Company Columbus and Greenville Railway Company East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad Company Fonda, Johnstown and Gloversville Railroad Company Georgia and Florida Railroad Louisiana and North West Railroad Company Macon, Dublin and Savannah Railroad Company Meridian and Bigbee River Railway Company Midland Terminal Railway Company Mississippi Central Railroad Company Port Utilities Commission (Charleston) Tennessee Railroad Company Wichita Falls and Southern Railroad Company LIST B International Association of Machinists International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders and Helpers of America International Brotherhood of Blacksmiths, Drop Forgers and Helpers Sheet Metal Workers' International Association International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Brotherhood Railway Carmen of America International Brotherhood of Firemen, Oilers and Maintenance Mechanics, A.F. of L. Brotherhood of Railway and Steamship Clerks, Freight Handlers, Express and Station Employes Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes The Order of Railroad Telegraphers Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen of America National Organization Masters, Mates, and Pilots of America National Marine Engineers' Beneficial Association International Longshoremen and Warehousemen's Unions, C.I.O. Hotel & Restaurant Employees' International Alliance and Bartenders' International League of America American Train Dispatchers Association Railroad Yardmasters of America HARRY S. TRUMAN

THE WHITE HOUSE, #signature

December 31, 1947

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Scholarly & Legal Citations 

Exec. Order No. 9918 (Dec. 31, 1947), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-9918-creating-emergency-board-investigate-disputes-between-the-alabama.