Evening star., 1951-01-21

II preCeQeuCS SCdIlu IOf dlly v
an apt one to the present day wi
to Iceland in July. 1941. Not thai
action. There were, and Senator
Taft, Republican. of Ohio. then as
now was one of those who OBJ
jected.
The present debate on the
powers of the President as Com
mander- n-Chief has ranged back
through all the precedents since
the beginning of the Government.
In that combing Of history. two
things stand out:
/. Presidents have been up
held without exception in their
dispatch of American forces to
all parts of the world.
2. The conditions under which
the Presidents power developed
were different from what they are
now. Despite forays in distant
corners of the world our sphere
was a smaller one in which our
policy was anchored to the
Monroe Doctrine.
We are faced now with the
necessity of expanding our think
ing from the Monroe Doctrine
concept and responsibilities to the
North Atlantic concept and re-
sponsibilities. The former was a
one sided declaration by which we
Tended off European aggression in
the Western Hemisphere. The
latter is a many sided treaty by
which it is hoped to fend off
Communist aggression from the
North Atlantic community, in
cluding Western Europe and our
selves.
There were exceptions to our
disposition to think in Western
Hemisphere terms during World
War I. But the major break
came when President Roosevelt
dispatched troops to Iceland.
Roosevelt's Stand
While there were protests in
Congress, significantly there was
no resolution in opposition offered
no action taken.
The first forces landed at the
Northern outpost were Naval
forces and Marines. Two months
later they were reinforced by
Regular Army contingents.
In announcing the July landing
TO Congress President Roosevelt
said:
THE United States cannot per-
NIT the occupation by Germany
of strategic outposts in the Allan
tic to be used as air or naval bases
for eventual attack on the West
ern Hemisphere" He added that
"as Commander -in-Chief I have
consequently issued orders to the
Navy that all necessary steps be
taken to insure the safety of
communications in the approaches
between Iceland and the United
States and all other strategic
outposts."
Mr.. Roosevelt said it was a
measure of self defense.
Robert E. Sherwood. in his
book Roosevelt and Hopkins" !"
quoted Admiral Harold R. Stark,
then Chief of Naval Operations
as saying: II realize that this is
practically an act of war"
Senator Taft described it as
exactly equivalent to aggressive
war" and said Iceland is suhstan-
TALLY a part of Europe.
I'm my opinion, he went on,
"the President has no legal or
constitutional right to send Amer
lean troops to Iceland" He con-
ceded that since the Army and
Navy would obey the Command
er-in-Chief, the President had the
power to send them anywhere in
the world. But he argued that
such an action is without legality
unless 1t is for the defense of the
United States and its citizens and
their property.
Senator Taft's Position
Senator Taft's position was up
held by several other senators
while the Presidents action was
supported chiefly by Senator Con-
molly, Democrat, Of Texas, now
chairman of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee. He assert
ed that if Congress has the power
to say the President cannot send
the Army and Navy to Europe,
that he is no longer Commander
in-Chief and Congress is.
He pointed out that Presidents
had sent the Navy all over the
world and he could see no differ
ence between the Presidents pow
er over the Navy and over the
Army.
Senator Taft saw a controlling
difference between sending Amer
lean forces to China to protect
Americans during the Boxer up
rising in 1900 and sending forces
to Iceland where there were no
Americans to defend. Senator
Connolly could see no difference.
American forces" Senator
Taft said, "have been landed
many times in different countries,
but as far as I know, except in
the Veracruz case, they have al
ways been landed to protect
American life or American prop
erty."
The Veracruz case was the one
in which President Wilson ordered
forces landed to punish the gov
ernment Of President Huerta OF
Mexico. Huerta had refused to
hoek Aour, n, what MO raoo ri cI