The Constitutional and Legal Context1. The president is commander in chief of the armed forces, appoints ambassadors, and negotiates treaties, but Congress authorizes and appropriates money for armed forces, approves ambassadors, and ratifies treaties; thus, foreign policy can become very sticky.
i. Yet, most people think that the president is in charge of foreign affairs, and in many cases, he has asserted the right to send troops abroad for a war, plus, the State Department, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the National Security Agency are almost totally presidential agencies.
ii. The president has signed over 7000 executive agreements with other countries that didn’t require Congressional ratification, as opposed to the 1000 treaties that Congress has passed.
2. The president tends to get more Congressional approval on foreign matters than domestic matters.
3. Here are examples of presidents who have been very strong in foreign policy matters:
i. 1801: Thomas Jefferson sends the navy to deal w/ the Barbary pirates.
ii. 1845: James K. Polk sends troops into Mexico to defend newly-acquired Texas.
iii. 1861: Abraham Lincoln blockaded Southern ports and declared martial law.
iv. 1940: Franklin D. Roosevelt sent 50 destroyers to Britain to use against Germany, even though the U.S. was technically at peace.
v. 1950: Harry S. Truman sent troops to South Korea to repulse North Korea.
vi. 1960s: John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson send troops to Vietnam w/o declaring war.
vii. 1989-90: George Bush sends troops to depose Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega and into Saudi Arabia to defend Kuwait against invading Iraq.
4. Yet, there have been times, like during the two World Wars, when the president could not do much.
i. Leaders of other Democratic nations often have greater freedom than the president.
5. One’s opinion of a president being too weak or strong also depends on one’s support of his policies.
6. BTW, states have very little say in foreign policies; most of that is up to the president and Congress.
7. The Supreme Court has also often supported the president when he has made drastic measures during crises, such as when Lincoln acted questionably during the Civil War, when F.D.R. interned the Japanese during WWII, and when J.F.K. and L.B.J. sent troops to Vietnam during the Vietnam War.
8. Congress does have certain checks on the president, but they’re political, not Constitutional:
i. Limitations on the president’s ability to give military or economic aid to other countries.
ii. The War Powers Act, which, when passed in 1973, said that a president must report to Congress within 48 hours the sending of troops into hostilities, that Congress must approve of a continuation of hostility within 60 days after troops are sent and that the president must withdraw troops if Congress doesn’t continue to allow troops being placed there, and that Congress can passed an unvetoable concurrent resolution directing the removing of U.S. troops that the president MUST obey.
a. Part of this act was struck down when the Supreme Court banned the legislative veto, but other parts have not been tested in court, and no president has acknowledged the Constitutionality of this act.
iii. Usually, though, Congress supports the president during times of war or during quick attacks.
iv. The House and Senate Intelligence Committees must be kept known of all covert activities.
