Executive Order 9279—Providing for the Most Effective Mobilization and Utilization of the National Manpower and Transferring the Selective Service System to the War Manpower Commission

In order to promote the most effective mobilization and utilization of the national manpower and to eliminate so far as possible waste of manpower due to disruptive recruitment and undue migration of workers, and by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and Statutes, including the First War Powers Act, 1941, and the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, as amended, as President of the United States, and as Commander in Chief of the Army and the Navy, it is hereby ordered as follows:

1. The War Manpower Commission (established by Section 1 of Executive Order No. 9139, dated April 18, 1942) shall consist of a Chairman appointed by the President and one representative, designated subject to the approval of the Chairman, of each of the following departments and agencies: The Department of War, the Department of the Navy, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Labor, the Federal Security Agency, the War Production Board, the United States Civil Service Commission, the National Housing Agency, and such other executive departments and agencies as the President shall determine; and a joint representative of the War Shipping Administration and the Office of Defense Transportation, designated by the Chairman of the War Manpower Commission (hereinafter referred to as the Chairman).

2. (a) The Selective Service System created and established for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, as amended, and all of its functions, powers, duties, personnel (including the Director of Selective Service), records, property, and funds (including all unexpended balances of appropriations, allocations, or other funds available for the administration of said Act, as amended) are transferred to the War Manpower Commission in the Office for Emergency Management of the Executive Office of the President, and shall be administered under the supervision and direction of the Chairman. The local boards and appeal boards of the Selective Service System shall, subject to the supervision and direction of the Chairman, continue to exercise the functions, powers, and duties vested in them by the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, as amended.

(b) The functions, powers, and duties of the Director of Selective Service, including authority delegated to him by the President under the provisions of the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, as amended, are transferred to the Chairman and may be exercised through the Director of Selective Service and such other officers, agents, and persons and in such manner as the Chairman may determine.

(c) The Chief of Finance, United States Army, shall act as the fiscal, disbursing, and accounting agent of the Chairman in carrying out the provisions of the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, as amended.

3. The Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy shall, after consultation with the Chairman, determine the number of men required to be selected each month in order to fulfill the total respective requirements of the Army and Navy as approved by the President. The Chairman shall furnish the required number of men through the Selective Service System.

4. After the effective date of this Order no male person who has attained the eighteenth anniversary and has not attained the thirty-eighth anniversary of the day of his birth shall be inducted into the enlisted personnel of the armed forces (including reserve components), except, under provisions of the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, as amended; but any such person who has, on or before the effective date of this Order, submitted a bona fide application for voluntary enlistment may be enlisted within ten days after said date.

5. Insofar as the effective prosecution of the war requires it, the Chairman shall take all lawful and appropriate steps to assure that (a) all hiring, rehiring, solicitation, and recruitment of workers in or for work in any establishment, plant, facility, occupation, or area designated by the Chairman as subject to the provisions of this section shall be conducted solely through the United States Employment Service or in accordance with such arrangements as the Chairman may approve; and (b) no employer shall retain in his employ any worker whose services are more urgently needed in any establishment, plant, facility, occupation, or area designated as more essential by the Chairman pursuant to this section.

6. The Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy shall take such steps as may be necessary to assure that all training programs for the armed forces (including their reserve components) and the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, which are carried on in non-Federal educational institutions, conform with such policies or regulations as the Chairman, after consultation with the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy, prescribes as necessary to insure the efficient utilization of the Nation's educational facilities and personnel for the effective prosecution of the war.

7. The Chairman shall (a) issue such policies, rules, regulations, and general or special orders as he deems necessary to carry out the provisions of this Order, (b) take steps to prevent and relieve gross inequities or undue hardships arising from the exercise of the provisions of Section 5 of this Order insofar as he finds so doing will not interfere with the effective prosecution of the war, and (c) establish such procedures (including appeals) as are necessary to assure a hearing to any person claiming that any action, taken by any local or regional agent or agency of the War Manpower Commission pursuant to Section 5 of this Order and said Executive Order No. 9139, is unfair or unreasonable as applied to him.

8. (a) The Chairman may perform the functions and duties and exercise the powers, authority, and discretion conferred upon him by this Order or any other Order of the President through such officers, agents, and persons and in such manner as he shall determine.

(b) The Chairman may avail himself of the services and facilities of such Executive departments and agencies as he determines may be of assistance in carrying out the provisions of this Order. He may accept the services and facilities of State and local agencies.

9. Subject to appeal to the President or to such agent or agency as the President may designate, each Executive department and agency shall so utilize its facilities, services, and personnel and take such action, under authority vested in it by law, as the Chairman, after consultation with such department or agency, determines necessary to promote compliance with the provisions of this Order or of policies, directives, or regulations prescribed under said Executive Order No. 9139.

10. The Chairman shall appoint a Management-Labor Policy Committee to be selected from the fields of labor, agriculture, and industrial management, and shall consult with the members thereof in carrying out his responsibilities. The Chairman may appoint such other advisory committees composed of representatives of governmental or private groups or both as he deems appropriate.

11. The Chairman shall be ex officio an additional member of the Economic Stabilization Board established by Executive Order No. 9250, dated October 3, 1942.

12. All prior Executive Orders, insofar as they are in conflict herewith, are amended accordingly. All prior regulations, rulings, and other directives relating to the Selective Service System shall remain in effect, except insofar as they are in conflict with this Order or are hereafter amended by regulations, rulings, or other directives issued by or under the direction of the Chairman.

13. This Order shall take effect immediately and shall continue in force and effect until the termination of Title I of the First War Powers Act, 1941.

FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT

The White House,
December 5, 1942.