President taking power away from the Congress
while losing control of Pentagon, Commager charges
ЩЙШ
Vol. 70 No. 6 UNIVERSITY OF PORTLAND October 15, 1971
By JOHN LOWRY
“If this is indeed the laboratory demon¬
stration when the president acts without
going to the people or the Congress . . .
then we must inevitably conclude that we
did better under the old Constitution than
we are under the new.”
That was the conclusion Henry Steele
Commager, professor of History and
- American Studies at Amherst College,
reached in his lecture on “the attack on
the power structures of the United States
Government” Wednesday night in Buckley
Center Auditorium.
Speaking before a sparse but interested
audience, Commager, in his initial thesis,
claimed that a revolution in the constitu¬
tional system of the United States may be
under way that shouldn't be happening.
Commager explained that this change,
in the form of an aggrandizement of power
by the presidency from the legislative
branch of the government, has occurred
under the last three administrations
(Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon) and is
■ without lasting precedent in our history as
a nation.
• “The last three presidents have used
the office of the president to it’s fullest
extent,” observed the author of numerous
historical works over the past 25 years.
“Whether or not this is simply part of the
flow of natural change our system has
been under going since it’s institution or
something more permanent or serious, is
difficult to know at this time.”
Commager turned back into the history
of the development of the United States
to explain his point. He showed, contrary
to popular thought, that the separation of
^ powers in the United States Constitution,
was not borrowed from the English sys¬
tem since England does not have a true
separation of powers. The founders of the
original system, due to the experience
with the English, shifted the power to the
legislative and were the first to make the
judicial a separate branch of government.
Explaining further, Commager stated
that due to nuclear power in the cold war
age the last three administrations have
taken advantage of the ambiguity of the
Constitution to assume war making powers
that are more explicitly the powers of the
Congress. “All executive power in war and
foreign affairs are implied powers," said
Commager.
Using examples from the past, Corn-
imager went on to note that there have
^been very few instances in United States
history where the president took war
making action without the authority of
* Congress.
Not until McKinley sent troops into
Senate swears
'China during the Boxer Rebellion in China
did a president act without the consent
of Congress. Wilson also assumed war
waging power when he sent troops into
Mexico to hunt the troublesome Pancho
Villa. But these were only minor opera¬
tions and did not have any drastic affect
on the world.
“Use of war making powers without the
authority of the Congress is a phenomenen
of the period after 1950 and especially the
last three administrations,” stated Com¬
mager. It is a phenomenen oi the hot am
cold war and the nuclear age . . . and the
only way to restrain this abuse of execu¬
tive power may be to get rid of the hot and
cold war and nuclear power.”
Certain new ingredients have been add¬
ed to the power of the executive branch,
according to Commager. The executive
has claimed the power to exercise war as
an inherent power as seen by the use of
the Tonkin resolution by the Johnson Ad¬
ministration and the statement by Nixon
that should the Tonkin resolution be
repealed, the power to wage war in Viet¬
nam still exists.
“The power of war by the executive is no
longer restrained to an emergency situa-
in new senators;
tion but has become a regular and perm¬
anent feature of the exercise of executive
power,” in Commager’s view.
Commager went on to his next point
that the president is assuming more power
in the area of foreign affairs and at the
same time losing control over the Penta¬
gon regarding foreign affairs.
“There is a growing audacity on the part
of the Pentagon in conducting foreign
relations without ever informing the
president,” said Commager.
He pointed to the Cuban Missle Crisis
of 1960 when Kennedy discovered that
United States missies in Cuba had not
been removed as he had ordered six
months previously.
Going back to the beginning of the Ken¬
nedy administration, Commager stated
that the Bay of Pigs incident had gone
so far out of the hands of President Ken¬
nedy, that he was powerless to do anyting
about the eventual fiasco.
Only recently the far reaching plans of
the Pentagon indicate plans for develop¬
ment of a U.S. financed Cambodian Army
which would, upon completion of the proj¬
ect, involve one-half the male population
of Cambodia in the Cambodian army.
Congress wants to cut off this money but
the military, by its present indications, has
no plans to withdraw the proposal.
As a further indication of the new
constitution, Commager graphically il¬
lustrated the secrecy being employed by
the executive branch in making foreign
agreements.
“This is one of the most serious issues
confronting us in current political life —
something that has grown considerably
within the last two decades,” said a con¬
cerned Commager. “Information has been
concealed from both the American public
and the Congress.”
Citing a specific example, Commager
referred to the publication of the Penta¬
gon Papers. “Never before has the govern¬
ment attempted prior censorship . . . But
now the government is publishing the
report. What happened to the argument
that such publication will inevitably hurt
the United States,” questioned Commager.
“It simply reveals deception and chican¬
ery on a vital scale.”
Commager also attacked the two Tonkin
Gulf incidents, which precipitated the pas¬
sing of the Tonkin Resolution. “The basic
story regarding the Tonkin incident, as
told to the American people, is untrue.
The Destroyer, as we now know, was with¬
in the nine mile limit and their were other
violations besides that particular one.”
Commager also explained that the Con¬
gress has been denied the essential in¬
formation about foreign relations. "The
houses of Congress can’t fulfill their
obligations if they don’t know what com¬
mitments the president and the military
have made,” said Commager.
Continuing his line of attack on the
ursupation of power by the executive,
Commager criticized the claim of execu¬
tive immunity but the non-recognition of
legislative immunity from questioning.
He chastised Nixon for refusing to let
Henry Kissinger (“who forms our foreign
policy") go before investigating commit¬
tees but he is willing to punish the legisla¬
tive assistant of Senator Charles Gravel
for reading the Pentagon Papers on the
floor of the senate when specific immunity
is granted in the Constitution for anything
a Congressman says inside the confines
of the Senate.
Further illustrating the assumption of
the power of the president, Commager
brought out the growing use of executive
agreements in place of treaties.
He cited the initiating of such agree¬
ments in the early years of U.S. History
when "they were only housekeeping af¬
fairs of no real importance." But recently,
especially in the '60s, executive agree¬
ments have “gradually outstripped the
treaty for the conduct of foreign affairs.”
(Continued on Page 8)
allots money, reviews bylaws
An informal discussion with Henry and faculty an opportunity for com-
Steele Commager on Wednesday after- meats and questions.
noon in Buckley Center, gave students John Steele Photo
Although the October 10 ASUP Senate
meeting was long, little was done in the
way of accomplishing much meaningful
business. The meeting, starting at 4:03
and ending at 5:32 was mainly concerned
with revisions of the senate bylaws.
The new Senators and Freshman class
President were sworn in by ASUP Presi¬
dent Mike Temple. The new Senators are:
‘Freshman President. Phil Houseman;
Shipstad Senators, Craig Sanders and
Kaemerz Dotiwala; Holy Cross Senator,
Steve Olson; Christie Senator, John Rit¬
ter; Mehling Senators. Debbie Totsy and
Terri Lynch; and Day Student Senators.
Ensworth Bruni, Kathy Cochran and Tony
Staley.
There was no new Senator from Villa
Maria because no one had the necessary
10 per cent of the votes required to be
elected.
The new Senators will serve a term of
one year, with the exception of the Fresh¬
man Class President. The class of 1975
will elect a new President in April.
The Engineers were also given a loan
. of $100 for the Barn Dance. There was an
attempt to amend the motion to give the
money to the Engineers only if they dis¬
continued their “defacing of the campus.”
The Senators were unconvinced by ASUP
President Mike Temple’s arguments that
the campus was being defaced by the
chalk markings, thus the bill was passed
without any strings attached.
In other dance news the Senate also
allocated the Black Student Union $165
for a joint ASUP-BSU sponsored dance
on the evening of October 15. There will
be free admission to ASUP students.
The Senate also received a financial
report from Scott Dutton, Finance Com¬
mittee Chairman and Dan O’Neil, ASUP
Treasurer. The Senate has already budget¬
ed over $24,000 this year from a projected
income of almost $26,000. There is an esti¬
mated $1400 left to be allocated in the
remainder of the school year.
Examination of a newly proposed set
of bylaws for the Senate was the last order
of business. The new bylaws are believed
to be stronger than the set currently in
use.
After discussing the bylaws for about an
hour the Senators decided to adjourn and
take up on them at the next meeting. This
meeting was last night at 6 p.m. in Buckley
Center, room 102. ASUP Senate meetings
have now been changed to every other
Thursday night at 6 in B.C. 102.
John Steele Photo Swearing in of new Seniors
