Executive Order 6166: Organization of Executive Agencies

Why it was signed

Roosevelt signed EO 6166 on June 10, 1933 under section 16 of the March 3, 1933 reorganization statute. Its preamble states the President’s determination that regrouping, consolidating, transferring and abolishing executive functions was needed. This was an exercise of specifically cited congressional reorganization authority, not a claim that presidents alone may create every new federal structure without legislation. NARA order text.

The order preceded the Federal Register system; NARA explicitly says its provisions do not appear in that system. Its June 10 signing date should therefore not be paired with a fabricated 1933 Federal Register publication date. The online codification adds amendments and editorial notes, so original instructions and later annotations need to be separated. NARA source note.

One familiar result was consolidating national parks, monuments, historic sites and certain War Department areas in an Interior office. But the order had multiple sections covering procurement, investigations, litigation, buildings, shipping and other functions. Describing it solely as a parks order would obscure its broad administrative scope and its many subsequent changes. Full text.

What the text authorized

Section 1 transferred government-wide procurement policy and methods to a Treasury Procurement Division and provided options for centralized or agency execution with presidential approval. It also addressed custodianship of surplus property. A transfer of procurement policy is not a general authorization for Treasury to spend without appropriations. Section 1.

Section 2 created an Office of National Parks, Buildings, and Reservations within Interior to consolidate administration of specified federal public buildings, reservations, parks, monuments and cemeteries. It included certain War Department lands, but stated exceptions and different treatment of cemeteries abroad or in insular possessions. Section 2.

Section 3 combined Bureau of Investigation functions with part of the Bureau of Prohibition’s investigative work in a Justice Department Division of Investigation. Permit work under prohibition laws went to Internal Revenue instead. Calling the whole action an immediate creation of the FBI under its later name would be an anachronism. Section 3.

Section 5 concentrated decisions about federal litigation in the Department of Justice once cases had been referred, while preserving agency decisions before referral. Section 12 transferred Shipping Board functions to Commerce and abolished the board. These arrangements show why the order must be read section by section; not every function moved to Interior. Sections 5 and 12.

What happened in practice

NARA’s agency history records that the National Park Service was expanded and briefly redesignated the Office of National Parks, Buildings, and Reservations under EO 6166. Congress renamed it the National Park Service in 1934, as NARA’s codification footnote records. Thus today’s NPS name is later than the precise 1933 office label. NARA NPS records; Codification footnote.

NARA notes that the Procurement Division was renamed the Bureau of Federal Supply in 1946 and that Congress transferred its functions to the General Services Administrator by the act of June 30, 1949. The original Treasury division is not the present procurement agency under the same 1933 institutional name. NARA note to section 1.

The 1933 Division of Investigation was redesignated the Federal Bureau of Investigation by a March 22, 1935 act, according to NARA’s editorial note. The federal investigative institution thus has a clear lineage, but its current name, structure and authorities cannot all be attributed to one 1933 clause. NARA note to section 3.

Section 2’s national-cemetery transfer was limited by EO 6228 in July 1933, while EO 6614 in February 1934 revoked its provision on foreign cemeteries and transferred European cemetery functions to the American Battle Monuments Commission. This is direct evidence that some 1933 instructions were revised within months. NARA amendment notes.

NARA’s codification says section 4 was repealed by a 1982 public law and lists numerous orders delaying particular provisions from 1933 onward. A blanket “EO 6166 was revoked” or “every section remains unchanged” would contradict that provision-specific record. Annotated codification.

The NARA text itself distinguishes the original order from its annotated codification: it records many postponed effective dates by subsequent 1933–1939 orders. A transfer prescribed June 10 should not automatically be dated as completed June 10 for every component. The park history establishes a real institutional change, while individual delayed transfers need their specific follow-up order. NARA EO 6166 editorial notes.

Reaction and legacy

The parks consolidation is an enduring institutional consequence, with NPS histories and records reflecting the expansion. Specific mechanisms of the 1933 order were later altered by acts, amendments and reorganizations. A present-day agency chart therefore cannot simply reproduce Roosevelt’s June 1933 list. NPS archival history; NARA notes.

The same order touched federal litigation and purchasing, yet later administration of those fields rests on subsequent statutory and executive changes. Each section has its own amendment history. The accurate current-position label is historical reorganization with significant continuing lineage and modified components, rather than a simple unqualified “in effect.” Sections and editorial notes.

The direct primary record distinguishes authority to initiate a reorganization, the actual transfer instructions and their later implementation. Documentary evidence supports durable parks and investigative lineages, while NARA’s later notes demonstrate that not every 1933 organizational unit survived. A quantified claim about cost savings would need separate fiscal evidence. Original and annotated text.

A reorganization order with multiple parts

EO 6166 was issued under the reorganization authority Congress supplied in March 1933. Its preamble identifies the purpose of economy and efficiency, but the legal effect lies in the individual transfers and consolidations. It is a multi-part plan, not an act establishing one new agency. Reading only its best-known National Park Service provision misses procurement, buildings, investigations, records and other administrative changes. Each part must be matched to the function it moved and to subsequent amendments or statutes. National Archives codified text.

The congressional authorization is an important boundary. Roosevelt used a power provided by statute to rearrange functions; the order did not invent an unlimited inherent power to abolish agencies or alter appropriations. Where a part transfers work, the predecessor’s legal responsibilities can continue through a successor office. Where later legislation changes the structure, the 1933 plan no longer describes the current organization. A claim that the order remains wholly “in force” is too blunt for a document with many separately evolving sections. EO 6166.

Dates also need care. The June 10 signing, statutory process for reorganization plans and operational transfers are related but distinct. A later archival label may use the date a particular unit started functioning rather than the date the President signed. For a question about a particular office or tract of land, the relevant effective provision and subsequent implementing records matter more than the broad order date alone. Codified order; NPS records.

Procurement, property and general administration

Section 1 organized central procurement policy and methods in a Treasury division while allowing actual purchasing to remain with agencies under the prescribed system. Policy control and every individual purchase are not the same thing. The order also addressed surplus property and custodial responsibilities. Later federal acquisition law and reorganizations changed the governing machinery, so a modern procurement procedure should not be derived directly from the 1933 clause. The clause instead shows how the New Deal administration sought government-wide coordination. Section 1.

Other parts reassigned buildings and investigative or administrative functions among existing departments. A transfer of records, staff or responsibility can make an agency’s name disappear from one workflow without ending the underlying public service. This is why an organizational history should name the function and its destination, not merely list abolished offices. The order’s numbered parts permit that tracing. A modern reader should consult the current statute and agency authority before assuming the original destination still holds a function. Full EO 6166.

The plan also directed records and printing-related changes. Such administrative clauses may look less consequential than park consolidation, yet they affected where federal officials obtained support and how files moved. The order does not provide a measure of resulting savings. An efficiency claim in its preamble is a stated objective; proving achieved savings would require budget or operational evidence across the affected agencies. Order text.

The park-system transfer

The order consolidated administration of national monuments and certain other federal sites under the Interior Department’s park organization. National Archives records describe the National Park Service’s temporary designation as the Office of National Parks, Buildings, and Reservations and its later restoration to the NPS name by Congress. The name change and transfer of responsibilities should be described separately. A monument’s original designation and its later NPS administration can arise from different legal instruments. NARA Record Group 79; EO 6166.

The park provision had lasting institutional importance, but “all federal public land became a national park” would be false. The order specified categories and agencies, and individual lands retained their legal designations. A transfer of management did not convert every historic site or monument into a park established by Congress. The National Archives agency history is useful for the succession; individual unit records and laws are needed for a site’s exact boundaries and status. NPS administrative history.

A local historical question may require both the presidential plan and contemporaneous transfer files. The order establishes a general administrative route; inventories, correspondence and agency records can show when responsibility for a named place actually changed. This distinction matters for visitors who encounter a monument founded before 1933 but administered by NPS afterward. Its founding date, acquisition date and administrative transfer are not interchangeable. National Archives NPS records.

What endured and what changed

The current National Park Service’s broader stewardship reflects part of the order’s legacy. Other provisions have been amended, replaced or absorbed into later organizational systems. It would overstate present law to reproduce EO 6166 as if its original Treasury procurement and Interior office arrangements remained untouched. The text is a historical map of 1933 responsibilities. Current authority must be checked in the relevant agency statute and later reorganization record. EO 6166 text; NPS records.

The order’s method also illuminates the difference between function and institution. A bureau can be renamed or moved while the function continues; conversely, a statutory duty can change even when an agency name survives. This distinction allows a careful answer to whether a given part “still applies”: identify the exact part, find its later legal treatment, and then describe the current custodian. A single yes or no for the whole order hides that mixed history. National Archives codification.

Research should begin with the complete numbered plan and then follow the affected agency’s record group. For parks, RG 79 records both the transfer and the subsequent naming history. For another subject, a different successor agency’s files may be necessary. That source trail is stronger than general claims that the order either created the modern executive branch or had no lasting effect. Both extremes collapse many distinct clauses into one slogan. EO 6166; Record Group 79.

Reading a provision through its successor

For any part of EO 6166, start by naming the function before asking whether the original office survives. If procurement policy moves, purchasing still happens even if the coordinating division later changes. If a park unit moves to a new administrator, the land’s earlier designation can remain. The order’s reorganization language is about custody and management as well as institutional names. Full order; NPS records.

The temporary name Office of National Parks, Buildings, and Reservations is a useful example of why searching only the modern National Park Service name can miss a year of records. Congress’s later restoration of the NPS designation did not undo every transfer made in 1933. An archival search should account for the name used when the record was created. NARA NPS history.

A reorganization can also cause overlapping source descriptions. One archive may describe an office under its predecessor record group, another under a successor. That is not necessarily a contradiction. The right question is whether a document predates the transfer, implements it or reports on its aftermath. EO 6166 provides the legal pivot, and the record series provide the administrative trace. EO 6166 text; RG 79.

The preamble’s efficiency purpose does not prove a net saving. Some transfers may have improved coordination while generating transition costs, and the order does not quantify either. Claims of savings need comparable fiscal accounts and a defined period. It is still fair to explain that the President stated economy and efficiency as reasons for the plan. EO 6166 preamble.

The parks provision is especially visible today, but it should not stand in for the whole legal document. Procurement, property, investigative and other functions had different successor histories. A present-status label for the entire order is necessarily shorthand. The guide preserves the section-by-section character so a reader can follow the exact provision relevant to their question. National Archives text.

For a named park unit, consult its designation and boundary documents as well as the 1933 transfer. For a procurement rule, consult later acquisition law. This source choice follows the function being investigated. A single modern agency homepage may accurately state who manages an activity now while leaving the 1933 transfer unexplained. EO 6166; NARA RG 79.

A practical map for tracing its many transfers

The order is best read by numbered part. Identify the predecessor and the function moved, then find the successor agency’s administrative history. That method can reveal whether a task persisted under a new name, was later reassigned or disappeared by statute. A statement about “the status of EO 6166” without a part number is likely to be too coarse for legal or archival use. NARA codified order.

The parks history is the most visible illustration of consolidation. NARA’s NPS guide tracks the 1933 expansion, the temporary Office of National Parks, Buildings, and Reservations designation and the 1934 statutory name restoration. Those are successive events. It would be misleading to list the 1934 name as a separate founding of the park system or to say the 1933 order itself created every site it brought under common administration. RG 79.

The procurement provisions show a different trajectory. Their aim was central policy and coordination, but later acquisition structures changed. The fact that central purchasing policy still exists does not establish an unbroken legal identity for the original Treasury division. A current procurement question must be answered from the rules now in force. EO 6166 section 1.

This complexity is why the guide avoids a blanket claim of permanent effect or wholesale revocation. The original plan remains indispensable for explaining 1933 transfers, while each later institution has its own legal path. The historical impact is the movement and consolidation of functions; the present status is provision-specific. Full order; NARA NPS records.

Common questions

Was this in the Federal Register?

No. NARA states the June 1933 order predates inclusion in that system. NARA source note.

Did it create the FBI under that name?

No. It established a Division of Investigation; a 1935 act supplied the later name. NARA section 3 note.

Did all transfers last unchanged?

No. The parks name, procurement division and cemetery provision changed under later acts and orders. Amendment notes.