Dwight D. Eisenhower Quotes
There is going to be no involvement of America in war unless it is the result of the Constitutional process that is placed upon Congress to declare it.
President Eisenhower was asked if there was any danger of the country getting inadvertently drawn into a war in Vietnam as the result of sending military "advisors":
Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1890-1969, 34th President of the United States (Republican, KS), Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, Press conference, March 10, 1954
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
In 1949 the NATO treaty was signed. There was concern that a phrase in the treaty authorizing signatories to take "such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force" would undermine Congress's powers:
When the Senate was debating the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which would empower the President to take "all necessary measures" to repel any armed attack on U. S. forces, Senator Morse was one of only two Senators opposing the resolution:
WWII has been remembered as a “good war” which had the overwhelming support of American at the time and in historical retrospect.
An earlier version was written by Congressman Louis L. Ludlow, 1873-1950—see his quotation about it—{39681}. The proposed amendment was narrowly defeated.
There was much New England dissatisfaction with the disproportionate power held by the Southern states as a result of counting three-fifths of the slave population for apportioning Congressional seats. In addition they were disproportionately hurt by the War of 1812 and the Embargo on trade with England. Secession was proposed but failed to get a majority. A number of proposed Constitutional amendments were voted upon. The super-majority herein required would have diminished their vulnerability to Southern power.
At the time of this speech virtually the entire world believed that. However world attitude changed markedly after the administration of George W. Bush and the United States invasion of Afghanistan after September 11 and the Iraq War which was for regime change.
President George W. Bush initiated an invasion of Iraq based on the fact that Iraq was developing nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. After the invasion however, there were none of these weapons found and much evidence that there were not any at that point in time. By the time Congress, the body which is supposed to declare war, found out that the reason for the war was bogus, it was too late. We had already occupied the country and were in the midst of a civil war. The President either acted on bad intelligence or wanted to invade Iraq for other reasons and history may finally tell us which, but Fein sees the problem as too much secrecy in the executive branch.
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower GCB OM GCS CCLH KC NPk was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he became a five-star general in the Army and served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe. He was responsible for planning and supervising the invasion of North Africa in Operation Torch in 1942–43 and the successful invasion of Normandy in 1944–45 from the Western Front.
