How Executive War Powers Affect United States Politics

Great Essays
How do Executive War Powers Impact United States Politics? In terms of US war powers, it is well known that Congress exclusively holds the power in the Constitution to declare war. However, in more recent times, the Presidents have found ways to declare military action without the input of Congress, starting in the Cold War Era and extending into today’s military campaigns (Burns, 2015; Hathaway, n.d.; Hinnebusch, 2007; Van Alstyne, 1972). In this paper, I will present current and former positions on the war powers issue, and explain how in modern times, the construction of the important power has been used to push agendas and align national issues with presidential plans. Review of Literature on Presidential War Powers Among scholars, this …show more content…
He gave the formal notice in a press conference shortly after launching action, and was met with Congressional and public support for his sponsored “war on terror” (Kiley, 2023). Eventually, the fear tactics allowed for a successful reelection in 2004, and an American presence that is still visible in the Middle East continued even into today. As argued in the past literature, presidents have used immediate action as a guise to push agendas. Bush is no exception, having declared war on a nation he claimed to have WMDs (Hinnebusch, 2007; Kiley, 2023) was the driving force for the attacks into Iraq, but none were found. It is well known that in terms of the Bush presidency, the war began to shift from a “war on terror” to a war based around US domination and economic control of interests in the Middle East, a major stance of the Republican Party at the time. Often described as, “a war of choice”, many major players believed Bush used the 9/11 attacks to push an agenda he hoped to make. Haass, 2023. Another prime example of presidents using this power for political ambitions or gains is the Obama administration's attacks on Syria and …show more content…
(2023). CONCERNING UNITED STATES CONSTITUTIONAL WAR POWERS. St. Mary’s Law Journal, 54(2), 319–374. Boylan, T. S., & Kedrowski, K. M. (2004). The Constitution and the War Power: What Motivates Congressional Behavior? Armed Forces & Society (0095327X), 30(4), 539–570. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X0403000403 Burns, S. (2015). A New Model of Executive Power: A Montesquieuan Explanation of the Obama Presidency. EBSCO. - EBSCO. https://research.ebsco.com/c/tzf4hh/viewer/html/hdg6uibnpn?proxyApplied=true&auth-callid=a154400c-1641-94cd-979a-089e6362eabd Elving, R. (2020, January 12). How Presidents Wage War Without Congress? NPR.com - "The New York Times" https://www.npr.org/2020/01/12/795661019/how-presidents-wage-war-without-congress Fisher, L. (n.d.). ARTICLE: PRESIDENTIAL MILITARY INITIATIVES: CONSTITUTIONAL VIOLATIONS, 53 U.S.C. L. Rev. Dr. John C. 373. The. Retrieved January 30, 2024, from https://advance.lexis.com/document/?pdmfid=1516831&crid=371f4e3b-f7b6-49f6-87fa-86b3defcd7f9&pddocfullpath=%2Fshared%2Fdocument%2Fanalytical-materials%2Furn%3AcontentItem%3A65PH-6WP1-DXWW-21BX-00000-00 Revisiting America’s War of Choice in Iraq | Council on Foreign Relations. https://www.cfr.org/article/revisiting-americas-war-choice-iraq Hathaway, O. n.d. - n.d. - n.d. ARTICLE: HOW THE EROSION OF U.S. WAR POWERS CONSTRAINTS HAS UNDERMINED INTERNATIONAL LAW CONSTRAINTS ON THE USE OF FORCE, 14 Harv. Nat’l Sec. -. J. 336. The. Retrieved January 30, 2024, from

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Analysis Of US V. Curtiss

    • 1163 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Many people tend to wonder the actual power of the president. Is it just a title? Or is he secretly the most powerful man; much like a dictator? Well, by going back in time to specific court cases that could have swayed either way, one can easily tell that the president has more powers than everyone thinks. Many think that issues involving wars and foreign relations are solely powers given to the President, but these powers can be tested when problems occur that are not clearly stated in his job description.…

    • 1163 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In his book, After the Rubicon: Congress, Presidents, and the Politics of Waging War, author Douglas Kriner delves into the murky concept of congressional influence in the arena of the United States’ increasingly executive-driven military engagements. Kriner analyzes the ways, both formal and informal, that Congress exercises affect over presidential actions in the international sphere. The publication addresses the regularity with which Congress seeks to influence presidential conduct of major military affairs by engaging in the policymaking process. Additionally, Kriner parses the significance of congressional influence to military action when opposition arises from the president’s party as well as the role of influence when the opposition party supports the president in the middle of an inherited war. Kriner accepts the expansion of executive power since the imperialistic eras of Johnson and Nixon as a given, however, his book aims to illuminate the ways in which Congress shapes the decisions made by the commander-in-chief even when lacking legal recourse to…

    • 1251 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This paper will address the extensive debate regarding presidential powers and the fact that, though unwise and poor law, the War Powers Resolution is not unconstitutional. In order to determine whether or not the War Powers Resolution intrudes too deeply on standing presidential power, it is first necessary to identify the legitimate executive prerogative that the Congress may have infringed upon. Opponents of the War Powers Resolution make a serious argument on intrusiveness regarding only one executive prerogative, the President's power as "Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States”, which is said…

    • 487 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    One major constitutional relationship that is defined deeply within the author’s argument is the distinct power of U.S foreign policy and whether or not the president or congress should have the ability to declare war (48). Ultimately when the framers constructed the constitution, it named the president the “ commander-in-chief”, however the power to declare war was only available to congress (50). Eventually this struggle among the branches led to the future outcry of who should deal with U.S foreign policy. Also over time presidents began to exert their “ commander-in-chief” duties by sending troops to where they felt necessary and even began wars only to justify that they did so with nation’s interest in mind, all without congressional approval…

    • 1274 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Now, the President declares war by himself. Congress now lets the President declare war whenever he feels that it is necessary. In the Vietnam war, Congress allowed the President to take measures that are necessary for dealing with the situation. This led to the President declaring war. The framers of the Constitution did not did take enough precaution to make sure that the President didn’t get more powers than he already has.…

    • 507 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    By calling military action as “conflicts” instead of war, or by engaging on executive agreements rather than treaties. While the president throughout the course of history has become more involved in domestic affairs, there still seem to be more focus on foreign affairs. This is due to the fact that in foreign affairs the president is able to exercise his executive power more…

    • 1221 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Beginning with Jackson, who endowed loyal followers with Presidential appointments, to Lincoln, who suspended Habeas Corpus and expanded the size of the army without consent from Congress, to Franklin Roosevelt, who created the socialistic New Deal programs to regulate the economy, the Presidency has grown in power and influence over the last hundred years. 
 While the President is the “Commander in Chief”, Congress holds the power to declare war Constitutionally. So, since there technically has not been a war declared by Congress since WWII, it’s arguable that the Vietnam and Korean wars as well as the war with Iraq are prime examples of the Presidents overstepping their boundaries. A great deal of this shift in Presidential power can be attributed to crisis. Lincoln was able to ignore Congress during much of his time in office because of the Nation being divided during the Civil War.…

    • 1045 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The War Powers Resolution Act of 1973 is said to have been passed by an “opportunistic” congress who took advantage of public opinion at a time of declining popularity for President Nixon, who was embroiled in the turmoil of the Vietnam War, Watergate, and several other high profile political gaffs (Crook, J., 2012, p. 157). The end result was a piece of legislation intended to further check the executive branch’s power as commander-in-chief to commit US forces to hostilities by granting Congress a greater role in the process. However, with over forty years of various example of executive non-compliance as well as congress’ inability to enforce sections of the resolution, one wonders why the WPRA was ever passed in the first place and why it…

    • 1163 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It can be argued that the president is not in charge of creating legislation, and that the president is to play a role in foreign relations, and that by giving him, the president, the power of the military, that in itself is an argument made by those that support ratification. However, the power to declare war rests in congress and not the president, in which the president is only in charge of the military when war has been declared. The imbalance of power between the three branches of government is a problem that the constitution creates, but that is not the only problem. The other problem that the constitution creates is that the federal government does not provide specific liberties within itself in which the federal government will protect. Those…

    • 915 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    What Is It The Wars Powers Act is a measure by congress passed in response to the Watergate scandal under president Nixon. The act states that “the president must notify Congress within 48 hours after deployment of troops into a hostile situation… the president can only commit troops into a hostile situation for 60 days without Congressional approval. After the 60…

    • 719 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The debate of whether the President or Congress should have more war powers has been debated for more than 200 years, and we are still not close to solving the problem. Some say that the President's authority to make war is far from absolute, though most presidents have other opinions. Several presidents, like Johnson and Bush, have made decisions alone that have affected our country in a negative way. Presidents have been known to make rash decisions disregarding Congress and send troops to war without the formal declaration of war. Congress has only declared war five times and presidents have sent troops to war more than 150 times.…

    • 475 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Two Presidencies Theory

    • 876 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The President of the United States seems to wield immense power; through executive orders and bill vetoing, it often appears that the president has a disproportionate amount of influence. However, other times, the president appears limited in his influence towards policy. Aaron Wildavsky proposed a Two Presidencies theory, which proposes that the president has significant power in relation to foreign policy, but limited power in relation to domestic policy. In reality, it seems that the president has power and influence, albeit checked by different branches and entities, in all areas of government.…

    • 876 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Starting from the Gulf of Tonkin incident, on August 1964, where it was reported that North Vietnamese gunboats allegedly attacked the USS Maddox and USS Turner Joy in the Gulf of Tonkin. A few days later, on August 7, 1964, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which gave President Johnson authorization to take any measures to support and protect South Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries. The Vietnam War sparked many questions about its constitutionality, as Congress did not explicitly declare war on Vietnam, nor did the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution give the president such power. Without the permission of Congress, it violates the Constitution as the power to declare war is only granted to Congress and brings up the question of unchecked, uneven power between the executive and legislative branches. Even though the President’s Commander-in-Chief clause gave President Johnson the power to “act in war,” without the legislative branch’s consensus, it allows for the executive branch to ratify regulations unchecked, which violates the system of checks and balances.…

    • 1221 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “The modern presidency is something of a media invention, partly out of convenience – we need a protagonist, a character through which to tell the story of American politics” (Achenbach). There is no argument that the President hold enormous influence on the nation and the world. By going public the President can gather support directly from citizens for a certain law, bill, treaty, war, etc., and while he or she might not be able to rally the entire nation in his or her favor, an address from the President has a tremendous pull on the nation or will at least get the world talking. But when it comes to policy making, the President influence is much more limited. For example, although the President can institute executive orders, these orders can be overturned by congressional hearing, judicial review, or the next president in office.…

    • 784 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Understanding the relationship between the president and congress is key in understanding American politics. Congress and the president cannot avoid engaging with one another, with a constitutional set up that demands they work together constructively. Congress has its roles to play in policy making as does the president. The president and congress are given certain powers in the constitution, that power is divvied up, so that neither one of these branches has too much power at one time (Fisher 2007). The founders of the constitution were very distrustful of the presidency and feared if the president was given too much power it would lead to demagogy (Dickinson 2008).…

    • 1004 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays