From: gerald_a_levy (gerald_a_levy@MSN.COM)
Date: Fri Dec 05 2003 - 03:43:52 EST
The following, from a right-wing site, is a rebuttal of the interpretation previously advanced on the Net. Indeed, it makes the exact _opposite_ argument. (Try reading the last paragraph first and then the rest if you are interested). In solidarity, Jerry | There is some misconception on the Net regarding a Kennedy | assassination theory which is wrong. I drafted the below to address this | argument: | | Executive Order No. 11110 | | There is currently floating around the Net one theory of the Kennedy | assassination based upon certain legal documents. According to this | idea, Kennedy was assassinated because he was about ready to start | issuing silver certificates; to prevent him from doing so, the "powers | that be" had him killed. Please understand that what I offer below | explaining the flaw of this argument does not mean that I am an | apologist for the Fed or banking industry; it should be obvious from my | site that I am not. I only offer these comments because this argument | demonstrates just one of the completely erroneous arguments which are | allegedly based upon the "law" but are not. | | When Congress enacts a law, it often delegates authority to enforce and | administer the law to some executive official, typically the President. | Naturally, the President does not personally attend to such duties and | must himself delegate to others within the Executive branch. The | Agricultural Adjustment Act of May 12, 1933, was one of these acts and | it permitted the President in §43 to issue silver certificates. | | Public Law 673 enacted by Congress in 1950 allowed the President to | delegate his statutory functions to others within the Executive branch. | It provided: | | The President of the United States is hereby authorized to designate and | empower the head of any department or agency in the executive branch, or | any official thereof who is required to be appointed by and with the | advice and consent of the Senate, to perform, without approval, | ratification, or other action by the President (1) any function which is | vested in the President by law, or (2) any function which such officer | is required or authorized by law to perform only with or subject to the | approval ratification, or other action of the President: ... | | Pursuant to this statutory authority, on September 19, 1951, President | Truman issued Executive Order No. 10289, which delegated to the | Secretary of the Treasury lots of the statutory duties of the President. | This executive order provided in part as follows: | | By virtue of the authority vested in me by section 1 of the act of | August 8, 1950, 64 Stat. 419 (Public Law 673, 81st Congress), and as | President of the United States, it is ordered as follows: | | 1. The Secretary of the Treasury is hereby designated and empowered to | perform the following described functions of the President without the | approval, ratification, or other action of the President: | (a) The authority vested in the President by section 1 of the act of | August 1, 1914, c. 223, 38 Stat. 609, as amended (19 U.S.C. 2), (1) to | rearrange, by consolidation or otherwise, the several customs-collection | districts, (2) to discontinue ports of entry by abolishing the same and | establishing others in their stead, and (3) to change from time to time | the location of the headquarters in any customs-collection district as | the needs of the service may require. | (b) The authority vested in the President.... | | Thereafter, this executive order listed another 8 statutory powers of | the President which he was delegating to the Treasury Secretary, the | substance of which is not important for this discussion. Please remember | that this delegation to the Treasury Secretary was to be exercised | "without the approval, ratification, or other action of the President." | It should also be noted that this particular executive order did not | delegate to the Treasury Secretary the authority to issue silver | certificates granted to the President in the 1933 law noted above. | | From 1933 until 1963, the President alone possessed the statutory | authority to issue silver certificates. But then on June 4, 1963, | President Kennedy amended Truman's 1951 Executive Order No. 10289 by | Executive Order No. 11110. This particular order read as follows: | | AMENDMENT OF EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 10289 | AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE PERFORMANCE OF | CERTAIN FUNCTIONS AFFECTING THE | DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY | | By virtue of the authority vested in me by section 301 of title 3 of the | United States Code, it is ordered as follows: | | SECTION 1. Executive Order No. 10289 of September 19, 1951, as amended, | is hereby further amended - | | (a) By adding at the end of paragraph 1 thereof the following | subparagraph (j): | | (j) The authority vested in the President by paragraph (b) of section 43 | of the Act of May 12, 1933, as amended (31 U.S.C. 821 (b)), to issue | silver certificates against any silver bullion, silver, or standard | silver dollars in the Treasury not then held for redemption of any | outstanding silver certificates, to prescribe the denominations of such | silver certificates, and to coin standard silver dollars and subsidiary | silver currency for their redemption," and | | (b) By revoking subparagraphs (b) and (c) of paragraph 2 thereof. | | SECTION 2. The amendment made by this Order shall not affect any act | done, or any right accruing or accrued or any suit or proceeding had or | commenced in any civil or criminal cause prior to the date of this Order | but all such liabilities shall continue and may be enforced as if said | amendments had not been made. | | JOHN F. KENNEDY | THE WHITE HOUSE, | June 4, 1963 | | By this executive order, the statutory authority of the President to | issue silver certificates was delegated to the Treasury Secretary. In | Kennedy's administration, the Treasury Secretary was Douglas Dillon, a | man from a banking family and known established power in the banking | community. Kennedy delegated the authority to issue silver certificates | to Dillon and his successors and this power could be exercised "without | the approval, ratification, or other action of the President." | | The only reasonable conclusion which may be reached based upon the | facts are the exact opposite of the argument made on the Net. For some | 30 years, the President himself held the power to issue silver | certificates. But some 5 months before his assassination, Kennedy | delegated this power to Dillon, and Dillon could do as he pleased with | this power. To assert that Kennedy was by Executive Order No. 11110 | getting ready to issue silver certificates is contrary to the plain | facts. Instead, Kennedy was surrendering this power and delegating it to | the Treasury Secretary, who then (and as always) has been someone from | the banking industry. There is no substance to this theory on the Net.
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