Evening star., 1951-11-18
CHAPTER 3,

agemenC TO france ana Euglan
to go on fighting. The end of hi
letter of June is, 1910. to Premie
Reynaud is enlightening, and
quote:
I'm these hours which are S
heart-rending to the French peo
pie and yourself. I send you tn
assurances of my utmost sympa
thy, and I can further assure yo'
that so long as the French peopl
continue in defense of their lib
Ierty, which constitutes the caus
of popular institutions throughou
the world. so long will they res
assured that materiel and sup
plies will be sent to them from tn
United States in ever-increaSin!
quantities and kind.
II know that you will under
stand that these statements carr.
with them no implication of mill
tary commitments. Only tn
Congress can make such commit
[ments
'FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT"
Yet Harry S. Truman in tn
case of Korea undertook to do ex
actly the thing which Franklin
Roosevelt said he had no powe
to do.
u. N. in the Case of Korea.
. In the case of Korea it wa
claimed that the intervention
could take place under the United
Nations Charter on the call of th'
Security Council OF course. th'
Security Council never acted un
der articles Al and AZ of tn
United Nations Charter. and ever
if it had done so the obligation Il
send troops is clearly limited b.
article 43. That article provide
that troops can only be called To-
when an agreement has been en-
tered into with the Security Coun
Gil specifying the number ant
character of the assistance to b.
furnished. No such agreemen
has ever been entered into.
The United Nations Participa
ton Act of 1945, approved b.
President Truman, also made i
clear that any agreement which
required the providing of militar,
aid must be subsequently approve,
by Congress. and, of course, i
never has been.
Not only that, but Presiden
Truman sent a cable from Pots.
dam when the United Natior
Charter was under consideration
in which he said: When an.
such agreement or agreements ar,
negotiated, it will be my purpos,
to ask the Congress by appro'
pirate legislation to approx,
them" The Charter was adopted
largely on that assurance. but nov
the Presidents claims are far be-
yond what they were then.
Unlimited Power Questioned.
The State Department itsel
admits that the action of the Sc,
curity Council in the Korean cast
was only a recommendation under
article 80. If the President car
carry cut every recommendation
of the Security Council or the
General Assembly supported by
the vote of the American repre-.
whom he can direct
then he has almost unlimited
power to do anything in the worlc
in the use of either troops OF
The Security Council
might recommend that the nations
should rebuild the canals on the
Tigris and Euphrates and estab-
Iish a vast Garden of Eden in the
of Iraq. According to
the argument made, the President
would then have the power to use
all American forces to establish
such an economic project.
On the same theory. he could
send troops to Tibet to resist
Communist aggression or to Indo-
China or anywhere else in the
world, without the slightest voice
of Congress in the matter. II
that could be the effect of an in
ternational treaty, we had better
watch closely the approval of any
such treaty in the future. Ol
course, it is not.
My conclusion. therefore, Is thai
in the case of Korea, where wal
was already under way. We had ne
right to send troops to a nation
with whom We had no treaty, tt
defend it against attack by an
other nation, no matter how un.
principled that aggression might
be. unless the whole matter wa!
submitted to Congress and a dec.
laration of war or some other di.
rect authority obtained.
question OF Europe.
The question of sending troop!
to Europe is certainly much more
complicated. There is no doubt
about the Presidents power tt
send troops to occupied Germany
There is no question that he car
send them if he wants to do so
as Commander in Chief of tn,
Army and Navy.
Whether Congress could limi
the number to be sent is a poin
which may be open to question
However, certainly the Presiden
has the power to do so if Con
gress does not act.
I think that he can station
troops in a friendly country i
such country asks that the troop
be sent and if there is no immi
nence Of attack and if they ar,
stationed there for some possible
convenience in repelling a genera
attack upon the United States it.
self
Particularly, it seems to me tina
the President of the United State
may station air forces and ma,
send the Navy to odd place
throughout the world. as Presi
l. l. L