4 

 The President's Foreign Affairs Powers

This photograph of President John F. Kennedy in the Oval Office symbolizes the enormous burden shouldered
by every President of the United States, especially with regard to foreign affairs.
Objectives
 Explain how treaties are negotiated by the President, approved by the Senate, and ratified by the
President under the system of checks and balances.
 Explain why and how executive agreements are made.
 Summarize how the power of recognition is used by the President.
 Describe the President's constitutional powers as commander in chief.
Key Terms
 treaty
 John Tyler
 William McKinley
 executive agreement
 recognition
 persona non grata

Lesson 4: The President's Foreign Affairs Powers

The President’s Diplomatic Powers
In a 1961 radio broadcast, John F. Kennedy described the pressures of the presidency this way: "When I ran
for the presidency . . . I knew the country faced serious challenges, but I could not realize—nor could any man
who does not bear the burdens of this office—how heavy and constant would be those burdens."

When President Kennedy made that comment, he had in mind the subject of this section: the President’s
awesome responsibilities as chief diplomat and commander in chief.

U.S. involvement overseas can last a long time. U.S. troops have been stationed in South Korea since 1950.
Here, President Obama looks from South Korea across the border to North Korea.

The Constitution does not say, in so many words, that the President is the nation’s chief diplomat. Rather,
Presidents have come to dominate the field of foreign affairs through the use of the powers of the office. In
major part, they were able to do so because the Constitution makes the President the commander in chief of the
nation’s armed forces—and several centuries of relationships between sovereign states tells us that military
force is the ultimate language of diplomacy.
The Power to Make Treaties
A treaty is a formal agreement between two or more sovereign states. The President, usually acting through
the secretary of state, negotiates these international agreements. The Senate must give its approval by a two-
thirds vote of the members present before a treaty made by the President can become effective. Recall, the
Constitution, in Article VI, makes treaties a part of “the supreme Law of the Land.”

During his presidency, Ronald Reagan (right) negotiated and signed—with the approval of the Senate—an
arms control treaty with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

Contrary to popular belief, the Senate does not ratify treaties. The Constitution requires the Senate’s “Advice
and Consent” to a treaty made by the President. Once the Senate has given its consent, the President ratifies a
treaty by the exchange of formal notifications with the other party or parties to the agreement.

Treaties have the same legal standing as acts of Congress, and their provisions are enforceable in the courts.
Congress may abrogate (repeal) a treaty by passing a law contrary to its provisions, and an existing law may be
repealed by the terms of a treaty. When the provisions of a treaty and an act of Congress conflict, the courts
consider the latest enacted to be the law (The Head Money Cases, 1884). The terms of a treaty cannot conflict
with any provision in the Constitution (Missouri v. Holland, 1920); but the Supreme Court has never found a
treaty provision to be unconstitutional.
Checks and Balances: Treaties and the Senate
The Framers considered the Senate—with, originally, only 26 members—a suitable council to advise the
President in foreign affairs. Secrecy was thought to be necessary and was seen as an impossibility in a body as
large as the House.

The two-thirds rule for treaty approval creates the possibility that a relatively small Senate minority can kill an
international agreement. For example, in 1920, the Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles, the general peace
agreement negotiated by Woodrow Wilson to end World War I. The treaty included provisions for the League
of Nations. Forty-nine senators voted for the pact and 35 against, but the vote was 7 short of the necessary two
thirds. More than once, a President has been forced to bow to the views of a few senators in order to get a
treaty approved, even when this has meant making concessions opposed by the majority.

At times, a President has had to turn to roundabout methods in order to achieve his goals. When a Senate
minority defeated a treaty to annex Texas, President John Tyler was able to bring about annexation in 1845 by
encouraging passage of a joint resolution—a move that required only a majority vote in each house. In 1898,
President William McKinley used the same tactic to annex Hawaii, again after a treaty his administration had
negotiated failed in the Senate.
Executive Agreements
Recent Presidents have relied more heavily on executive agreements than on formal treaties in their dealings
with foreign governments, especially in routine matters. An executive agreement is a pact between the
President and the head of a foreign state, or their subordinates. Unlike treaties, these agreements do not have to
be approved by the Senate.
These pacts have the same standing as treaties in the relationships between sovereign states, but they do not
supersede federal law or the laws of any State. However, they are otherwise binding on the United States.

Most executive agreements flow out of legislation already passed by Congress or out of treaties to which the
Senate has agreed. However, the President can make these agreements without any congressional action.
Treaties, once made, become a permanent part of American law. Executive agreements do not. When a change
of administrations occurs, only those the new President agrees to remain in force.
In 1940, President Franklin Roosevelt negotiated the destroyers-for-bases deal with Great Britain, which he
accomplished through the use of an executive agreement.

A few executive agreements have been extraordinary, most notably the destroyers-for-bases deal of 1940.
Under its terms, the United States gave Great Britain 50 “over-age” U.S. destroyers, naval vessels that the
British needed to combat German submarine attacks in the North Atlantic. In return, the United States received
99-year leases to a string of air and naval bases extending from Newfoundland to the Caribbean.

The Power of Recognition

When the President receives the diplomatic representatives of another sovereign state, the President exercises
the power of recognition. That is, the chief executive, acting for the United States, acknowledges the legal
existence of that country and its government. The President’s action indicates that the United States accepts
that country as an equal member of the family of nations. Sovereign states generally recognize one another
through the exchange of diplomatic representatives. Recognition also may be accomplished by other means,
such as proposing to negotiate a treaty, since in international law only sovereign states can make such
agreements.
Recognition does not mean that one government approves the character or the conduct of another. The United
States recognizes several governments about which it has serious misgivings. Among the most notable
examples today is the People's Republic of China. The facts of life in world politics make relations with these
governments necessary.

Recognition can be used to gain some advantage in world affairs. President Theodore Roosevelt’s quick
recognition of Panama in 1903 is a classic example of that point. He recognized the new state less than three
days after the Panamanians had begun a revolt against Colombia, of which Panama had been a part.
Roosevelt’s action guaranteed their success. Similarly, President Harry Truman’s dramatic recognition of
Israel, within minutes of its creation in 1948, helped that new state to survive among its hostile Arab
neighbors.

President Theodore Roosevelt used the power of recognition to legitimize and support Panama’s independence
from Colombia in 1903, thus paving the way for U.S. control of the Panama Canal.

The President may show American displeasure with the conduct of another country by asking for the recall of
that nation’s ambassador or other diplomatic representatives in this country. The official recalled is declared to
be persona non grata, an unwelcome person. The same point can be made by the recalling of an American
diplomat from a post in another country. The withdrawal of recognition is the sharpest diplomatic rebuke one
government may give to another and has often been a step on the way to war.
1. POSE AND ANSWER QUESTIONS The system of checks and balances is part of the treaty-
making process. In order to avoid clashes with the legislative or judicial branches, what questions
might a President ask advisors prior to negotiating a treaty? What answers might convince the
President to proceed with the negotiations?
Commander in Chief
The Constitution makes the chief executive the commander in chief of the nation’s armed forces (Article II,
Section 2, Clause 1), although Congress does have extensive war powers. However, the President dominates
the field of military policy. In fact, the President’s powers as commander in chief have often been the source of
conflict between the legislative and executive branches.

Consider this illustration of the point: In 1907, Theodore Roosevelt sent the Great White Fleet around the
world. He did so partly as a training exercise for the Navy but mostly to impress other nations with America’s
naval might. Several members of Congress objected to the cost and threatened to block funds for the
President’s project. To this, Roosevelt is said to have replied, “Very well, the existing appropriation will carry
the Navy halfway around the world and if Congress chooses to leave it on the other side, all right.” Congress
was forced to give in.

Presidents delegate much of their command authority to military subordinates. They are not required to do so,
however. George Washington actually took command of federal troops and led them into Pennsylvania during
the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794. Abraham Lincoln often visited the Army of the Potomac and his generals in
the field during the Civil War.

As commander in chief, President Lincoln often visited soldiers in the field and was known for taking a
personal interest in the men. Here, he meets with officers at Antietam in 1862.
Most Presidents have not become so directly involved in military operations. Still, the President has the final
authority over and responsibility for all military matters, and the most critical decisions are invariably made by
the commander in chief.

Making Undeclared War

Does the Constitution give the President the power to make war without a declaration of war by Congress?
Although many argue that it does not, 200 years of American history argue otherwise. Presidents have often
used the armed forces abroad, in combat, without a declaration of war. In fact, most Presidents have done so,
and on several hundred occasions.

John Adams was the first to do so, in 1798. At his command, the Navy fought and won a number of battles
with French warships harassing American merchantmen in the Atlantic and the Caribbean. There have been a
great many other foreign adventures since then. The long military conflicts in Korea, Vietnam, and now in
Afghanistan and Iraq stand as the most extensive of these “undeclared wars.”

Congressional Resolutions to Balance Executive Power

Congress has not declared war since World War II. On eight occasions since then, however, it has enacted joint
resolutions to authorize the President to meet certain international crises with military force.

President Dwight Eisenhower sought the first of these measures in 1955, to block the designs the People’s
Republic of China had (and still has) on Taiwan. That show of American resolve, and the presence of
American warships, defused the situation.

The most recent authorization of force occurred in 2002, when Congress agreed that President George W.
Bush should take those measures “necessary and appropriate” to eliminate the threat posed by Saddam Hussein
and his Iraqi dictatorship. Operation Iraqi Freedom lasted nearly nine years and sacrificed the lives of nearly
4,500 American troops. At a cost of some $820 billion, the mission ousted Hussein from power and oversaw
the installation of a fledgling democracy in Iraq. Continued violence and unrest plague the nation, however,
and a new threat arose in 2013 in the form of the Islamic militant group ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria;
also known as ISIL—Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant). The Iraqi army began fighting a full-fledged war
against ISIS, which seized major areas of the country. The U.S. military, along with allies, joined the fight
when it began conducting airstrikes on key targets within Iraq in 2014.

Other Uses of Military Power

Since the end of World War II, there have been many other dire situations in which Presidents have deployed
the nation’s armed forces without a congressional resolution. Certainly, the Korean War stands as the foremost
illustration of that fact. Among other notable instances: the 1983 attack on Grenada to frustrate a military coup,
ordered by Ronald Reagan; the 1989 invasion of Panama, at the command of George H.W. Bush, to oust
dictator General Manuel Noriega and protect American interests; the dispatch of U.S. forces to the Balkans in
1995 and 1999 by Bill Clinton as part of NATO’s response to a vicious civil war and Serbian President
Slobodan Milosevic’s horrific “ethnic cleansing” campaign; President Obama’s 2011 use of the American
military, in conjunction with other NATO forces, to support democratic uprisings in the North African nation
of Libya; and, most recently, the U.S.-led airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq and Syria that began in 2014.

All of the conflicts shown on this map took place without a congressional declaration of war. Analyze
MapsWhy does military power sometimes shift from Congress to the President?

Limiting Presidential War Powers

The war-making power as it was exercised by Presidents Johnson and Nixon during the undeclared war in
Vietnam moved Congress to enact (over President Nixon’s veto) the War Powers Resolution of 1973. That
statute provides that the President can commit American military forces to combat only (1) if Congress has
declared war, (2) if Congress has authorized that action, or (3) when an attack on the nation or its armed forces
has occurred.

If troops are ordered into combat in the third circumstance, the President must report it to Congress within 48
hours. Any such commitment of American forces must end within 60 days, unless Congress agrees to a longer
involvement. At any time, Congress can end a commitment by the passage of a concurrent resolution (which is
not subject to veto). The constitutionality of the War Powers Resolution remains in dispute.

1. SYNTHESIZE Since the founding of the United States, Congress has declared war against other
nations 11 times, most recently during World War II. Yet the United States has entered into hundreds
of armed conflicts. What power allows the President to enter into a military conflict without
congressional approval? Give an example of how a President has used this power.
Assessment
1. Explain A President has signed an arms control treaty approved by the Senate, but 20 years later, a
different President thinks the terms are not stringent enough. What, if anything, can the new President do
to change the situation?
2. Sequence When Panama was created in 1903, why did President Theodore Roosevelt use his power to
recognize the new nation so quickly?
3. Interpret How does President Theodore Roosevelt's comment, "speak softly and carry a big stick"
relate to the President's powers as a diplomat and as commander in chief? Do you agree with this
approach? Why or why not?
4. Determine Author’s Purpose When President Nixon vetoed the War Powers Resolution in 1973, he
noted: "If the [War Powers] resolution had been in operation, America's effective response to a variety
of challenges in recent years would have been vastly complicated or even made impossible. We may
well have been unable to respond in the way we did during the Berlin crisis of 1961, the Cuban missile
crisis of 1962, the Congo rescue operation in 1964, and the Jordanian crisis of 1970—to mention just a
few examples." How do the examples given by President Nixon support his decision to veto the War
Powers Act?
5. Analyze Reflect on the power of the President as the commander in chief. Why do you think the
Framers gave this power to the President, rather than Congress?