policy - The Black Vault

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during the Vietnam War congressional legislative authority was disregarded
in favor of the Executive prerogative in decision making. Professor
Wormuth and Senator Fulbright are proponents of this opinion and have gone
so far as to picture American involvement ir Vietnam as exemplifying
presidential usurpation of power. By contrast, legal expert, John Moore
argues that there are no easy 'bright-line distinctions' regarding
presidential and congressioual authority on war-related matters. 61/
Certainly, there has been tr-.•,endous disagreement among scholars on the
subject of the limits of presidential power, and for many years Vietnam was
the central focus o, these debates. 62/ Increasingly, during the Vietnam
War, presidential decisions regarding the war were made without consultation
with Congress. As presidential policies for involvement began to
demonstrate the futility of American efforts, Congress began to reassert
its authority in foreign policy and war-making affairs. The following
pages trace the evolution of precedents leading to the considerably
broadened presidential authority for war, peaking during the Vietnam War,
dnd t he eventual imposition of restrictions upon presidential authority by
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Review of Precedents for Broadening Presidential War-Making
Powers
By the mid 1800s. the struggle between congressional legislative
authority and the Executive prerogative on matters of foreign policy was
ongoing Since that time, the following four broad categories of precedents
have contributed significantly to the broadening of presidential
war-making powers: 1) Exercise of presidential authority as Commanderin-Chief
to assign American troops overseas, and to protect them once over-
2) Tightening of control over information by the President, leaving
Congress uninformed on many foreign-related matters; 3) Presidential appeal
to the nation for unity of purpose in times of crisis, thereby leading to
increasing centralization of decision making in the presidency: 4) Demonstrated
past congressional failures in foreign policy making.
Examples of presidential failure to consult with Congress on the
matter of sending American armed forces into areas of potential combat are
evident as early as the 1840s. At that time, President PoWv sent American
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