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Executive Order 9935 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 9935—Directing the Transfer of Certain Vessels to the Government of Italy

Harry S Truman Harry S Truman
•
Tuesday, March 16, 1948
•
4 min read (790 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 4 min read (790 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

The Attorney General and the United States Maritime Commission are authorized and directed to transfer to the Government of Italy all right, title, interest, and possession of the United States, the Attorney General, or the Maritime Commission in the following vessels, which were under Italian registry and flag on September 1, 1939: ELWOOD (ex.

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 Private Citizens & Property Owners Foreign Nations & International Entities Financial Institutions & Monetary Authorities
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 March 16, 1948, this order concerns Directing the Transfer of Certain Vessels to the Government of Italy. The Attorney General and the United States Maritime Commission are authorized and directed to transfer to the Government of Italy all right, title, interest, and possession of the United States, the Attorney General, or the Maritime Commission in the following vessels, which were under Italian registry and flag on September 1, 1939: ELWOOD (ex. LACONIA) GALLANT FOX (ex. GUIAN) GOLD HEELS (ex. BRENNERO) HERMITAGE (ex.

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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The Attorney General and the United States Maritime Commission are authorized and directed to transfer to the Government of Italy all right, title, interest, and possession of the United States, the Attorney General, or the Maritime Commission in the following vessels, which were under Italian registry and flag on September 1, 1939: ELWOOD (ex.

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The United States Maritime Commission is authorized an directed to designate 15 surplus Liberty ships and to transfer them to the Government of Italy, it having been determined by the Commission that 15 Liberty ships have a total tonnage approximately equal to the total tonnage of vessels under Italian registry and flag on September 1, 1939, and subsequently seized in United States ports and thereafter lost while being employed in the United States war effort. 3.

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The above transfers shall be made pursuant to agreements to be executed by the Attorney General or the United States Maritime Commission or both, as the case may require, acting on behalf of the United States, and by the Government of Italy, which agreements shall contain substantially the following provisions and such other provisions consistent with the act of August 5, 1947, as the Attorney General and the Maritime Commission, in consultation with the Secretary of State, shall consider necessary and appropriate: (a) No monetary compensation shall be paid for the use by the United States or its agencies of former Italian vessels acquired or seized by the United States after September 1, 1939.

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All costs incurred to return or transfer a vessel to the Government of Italy shall be borne or reimbursed by the Government of Italy.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Sovereign State Governments & Localities 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners 🏛️ Foreign Nations & International Entities 🏛️ Financial Institutions & Monetary Authorities

Policy Areas & Topics

🏷️ Foreign Policy & Diplomacy
🏛️

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
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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
30 / 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

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

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
790
4,831 characters
Estimated Read Time
4 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
15
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 laws of the United States, including the Trading with the Enemy Act of October 6, 1917 (40 Stat. 411), as amended, and the act of August 5, 1947, Public Law 370, 80th Congress, 1st Session, it is hereby ordered as follows: 1. The Attorney General and the United States Maritime Commission are authorized and directed to transfer to the Government of Italy all right, title, interest, and possession of the United States, the Attorney General, or the Maritime Commission in the following vessels, which were under Italian registry and flag on September 1, 1939: ELWOOD (ex. LACONIA) GALLANT FOX (ex. GUIAN) GOLD HEELS (ex. BRENNERO) HERMITAGE (ex. CONTE BIANCAMANO) LOWLANDER (ex. LEME) MOKATAN (ex. MAR GLAUCO) TROUBADOR (ex. CONFIDENZA) TYPHOON (ex. COLORADO) WHITE CLOVER (ex. MONFIORE) ALCIBIADES (ex. IOLE FASSIO) FAIRENO (ex. DENTICE) Malvern (ex,. TROTTIERA) MONTICELLO (ex. CONTE GRANDE) SWIVEL (ex. BACICIN PADRE) 2. The United States Maritime Commission is authorized an directed to designate 15 surplus Liberty ships and to transfer them to the Government of Italy, it having been determined by the Commission that 15 Liberty ships have a total tonnage approximately equal to the total tonnage of vessels under Italian registry and flag on September 1, 1939, and subsequently seized in United States ports and thereafter lost while being employed in the United States war effort. 3. The above transfers shall be made pursuant to agreements to be executed by the Attorney General or the United States Maritime Commission or both, as the case may require, acting on behalf of the United States, and by the Government of Italy, which agreements shall contain substantially the following provisions and such other provisions consistent with the act of August 5, 1947, as the Attorney General and the Maritime Commission, in consultation with the Secretary of State, shall consider necessary and appropriate: (a) No monetary compensation shall be paid for the use by the United States or its agencies of former Italian vessels acquired or seized by the United States after September 1, 1939. (b) All costs incurred to return or transfer a vessel to the Government of Italy shall be borne or reimbursed by the Government of Italy. (c) The Government of Italy shall agree to discharge and save harmless the Government of the United States of America from any responsibility and liability for the processing, settlement and satisfaction of any claims to or against the vessels so transferred or the lost vessels in respect of which substitute vessels are transferred. (d) Prior to the removal of any vessel to be transferred from the custody, actual or constructive, of any court, the Government of Italy shall make or cause to be made arrangements, including the posting of a stipulation for value or other security in nature and amount satisfactory to such court, to secure the payment of any unpaid claims against the vessel. (e) Of the 15 surplus Liberty ships designated for transfer to the Government of Italy the Maritime Commission shall retain such number as will constitute security for the payment of such sums of money as the Attorney General may determine sufficient for the processing, settlement and satisfaction of any claims not otherwise secured to or against the lost vessels in respect of which the substitute ships are being transferred. (f) Delivery of the HERMITAGE (ex. CONTE BIANCAMANO) and MONTICELLO (ex. CONTE GRANDE) pursuant to this order shall be without prejudice to any rights of the Government of the United States, under existing agency agreements with the Government of Italy, with respect to (1) accounting for revenues of such vessels accruing prior to the date of delivery of such vessels pursuant to this order, and (2) the operation of the SS SATURNIA and SS VULCANIA, or either, in accordance with existing agreements between the United States and Italy. 4. The Liberty ships to be transferred to the Government of Italy shall be selected by the United States Maritime Commission, in consultation with the Government of Italy, such vessels to be operated by Italy for commercial use. Provision shall be made that such Liberty ships are to be operated under the Italian flag and shall not be sold to any person or corporation not a national of Italy, without the consent of the Government of the United States. 5. The Attorney General and the United States Maritime Commission shall act in consultation with the Secretary of State in carrying out the terms of this Executive order with all possible promptness in a manner which will effectuate the foreign policy of the United States to assist friendly and democratic European nations to rebuild their economies without delay. HARRY S. TRUMAN

THE WHITE HOUSE, #signature

March 16, 1948

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Scholarly & Legal Citations 

Exec. Order No. 9935 (Mar. 16, 1948), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-9935-directing-the-transfer-certain-vessels-the-government-italy.