policy - The Black Vault

THE BDM CORPORATION
Together, the above four factors provided ample precedent and
occasion for the broadening of presidential war-making powers. Congress
lacking sufficient information, lacking both experience in the daily
activities of foreign policy making and not infrequently interest in such
matters had all but abdicated its oversight responsibilities when the
Vietnam War began. 68/
3. Presidential Authority for War - The Case of Vietnam
2residential authority for US involvement in Vietnam rested upon
two legal points which were broadly interpreted by the different administrations:
1) the authority of the President as Chief Executive and Commander-in-Chief
to command the US armed forces and to protect American
lives overseas; and 2)
Congressional consent as demonstrated in 1964 by
passage of the Southeast Asia Resolution and by repeated authorization of
defense procurement requests. Further, there were precedents to the
broadened interpretations of presidential authority for war demonstrated
during the Vietnam war.
a. Kennedy Administration
While Kennedy inherited a situation in which US involvement
in Southeast Asia was increasing, his attention to foreign affairs was, not
surprisingly, focused on the continuing prospect of confrontation with the
Soviet Union in Europe and in the Western Hemisphere.
shaped American foreign politics and responses,
The Cold War had
and the dominant foreign
policy problems of the administration centered around the Berlin issue and
the Cuban missile crisis. Nevertheless, the US involvement in Southeast
Asia grew as increasing numbers of "advisors" were sent to Vietnam under
such arrangements as offered by military assistance agreements and as the
CIA expanded its covert operations in the area. While the military
assistance arrangements were sanctioned by Congress through its passage of
assistance legislation and annual appropriations, the US-conduct of covert
activities were pursued "under the Eisenhower precedent and with tacit
congressional consent, and were immune to legislative scrutiny." 69/ Of
course, when the American 'advisors' who had been sent to train the South
Vietnamese army. actually became involved in combat operations, as on
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