Here we are going to study briefly the approaches of imperial presidents against congress.
The most controversial case came in 1970s. Lyndon Johnson before 1964 regularly tried to achieve congressional approve in his term. Therefore, congress passed 1964 Tonkin Gulf Resolution, which authorized the president to take necessary measurements in Vietnam. Using this authority, Johnson took the state into the war in 1965 without obtaining a declaration of war from the congress.
Not satisfied with the affairs in Vietnam, congress changed its strategy and passed The War Powers Resolution (WPR) in 1973. It was the reaction of congress against Johnson's successor, Richard Nixon whom many politicians regard as the most monarchic president of the United States. While war in Vietnam had become a fiasco, congress concluded that president had misused its power, and as a response, passed WPR. According to this act "The President was required 'in every possible instance' to consult with Congress before introducing U.S. armed forces into hostilities. After every such introduction he was to 'consult regularly with the Congress' until the forces had been removed. He was required to report to Congress within 48 hours after the introduction of forces into combat or situations in which hostilities were imminent and to report every six months thereafter. The President was given a maximum of 60 days to use the armed forces without congressional permission; after that time, he would have to obtain a declaration of war, other congressional approval, or an extension of the time limit. If he did not gain congressional approval, he had 30 days to withdraw the forces from hostilities"
Practically nearly, no presidents regarded this resolution with the justification that it confined the presidential power. Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George Bush routinely evaded or ignored provisions of the WPR, arguing that it was an unconstitutional infringement on their powers as commander in chief. President Gerald Ford evacuated Americans and Europeans from South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia in 1975, when communist forces seized power in those nations, without invoking the consultation clause of the WPR. He also attempted a rescue of the crew of the merchant ship Mayaguez after it was seized by Cambodian communists in 1975, without invoking the resolution. In 1980, President Carter ignored the consultation clauses of the WPR when he ordered military forces to try to rescue diplomatic hostages held by Iran for more than a year.
In 1982, President Ronald Reagan sent marines into Lebanon, where they remained for months exposed to hostile fire, without invoking the 60-day "clock." When he bombed Libya in 1986, he offered members of Congress a briefing while the planes were in midair, rather than consulting with them about whether the bombing should occur.
The other example of Reagan's resisting against congress happened in early 1980s. According to David McKay While he was in oval office, he tried to get American hostage in Lebanon back. What he did was a secret arm deal with Iran that was in war with Iraq and using Iran's mediatory to free the hostages. Then he used the money in aiding the opposite groups (Contras) of ruling communist Sandinistas in Nicaragua. Indeed, he had trapped in two scandals within Iran and Nicaragua at the same time. He had violated the previous acts of congress that emphasized not to go to any deal with terrorists and at the same time, he had violated respecting a democratic government by aiding its opposites. When these affairs came to public, it was revealed that he had done all these jobs without informing congress. Then congress decided to restrain the power of president and passed a series of amendments known as Boland amendments. These amendments were written into text of budget, which said, "None of the funds appropriated herein shall be used for the purpose of funding the Nicaraguan Contras." The third Boland amendment asserted on cut off all funds for military and paramilitary purposes.
In 1989, without consulting Congress, President Bush sent forces into Panama to capture General Manuel Noriega and bring him back to the United States to face drug trafficking charges. (Bush did, however, comply with other provisions of the law.) Bush was authorized by Congress to use military force against Saddam Hussein of Iraq, but Congress did not use the provisions of the WPR.
Presidents do not use the WPR if their use of the armed forces involves peacekeeping or anti-terrorist actions or for humanitarian assistance, such as the 1992-93 operation in Somalia and the 1993 airdrops of food in Bosnia and Herzegovina, or if covert operations are involved. Presidents never trigger the 60-day clock that starts when they use the armed forces. If Congress wishes to set a time limit, it must do so itself by passing a joint resolution. But that resolution itself is subject to a Presidential veto, which then must be overridden by a two-thirds vote of each house to go into effect. In practice, a President who fails to obey the terms of the WPR can continue using the armed forces until two-thirds of each chamber of Congress decides to force him to withdraw, a most unlikely situation.
On the other hand, in view of some writers like Gene Healy, Clinton is also one of the imperial presidents. He has written an article, "Clinton's Legacy: Another Imperial Presidency" which is published in cato.org on January 20, 2001. He believes that:
"Despite his antiwar background, Clinton adopted a Nixonian view of presidential power. From the threatened invasion of Haiti in 1994 to the cluster-bomb humanitarianism of the war on Serbia in 1999, Clinton treated the constitutional command that Congress alone can declare war with less respect than the Imperial Presidents that preceded him. President Reagan's attack on Grenada and President Bush's invasion of Panama were undeclared wars, but they had the constitutional fig leaf of the need for surprise. Clinton's conduct has been more brazen.
With 1994's Haiti intervention, Clinton stood ready to launch a 20,000-troop invasion, while asserting that he did not need congressional authorization to do so. In Serbia, the air war from March to June 1999 represented the largest commitment of American military personnel and materiel since the Persian Gulf War. Nonetheless, Clinton refused to go to Congress for a declaration of war. Indeed, administration officials would not admit that the bombing campaign over Serbia was a war."
As history of the United States shows, in the time of war and crisis, presidents maintain especial right for them. They are commander in chief, according to constitution, and take it for granted to exercise more power.
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