On Declaring War
Recently, there has been much ado about the U.S. air strike in Iran with several politicians claiming that it was an impeachable act or that the President needs to go to Congress to get a formal declaration of war before taking such action. Given these politicians feigned horror about the violation of the Constitution, let’s take a look at history.
A few facts are in order. According to the Senate’s archives, the United States Senate has issued a declaration of war 11 times. For the record, the U.S. declared war on Great Britain on June 17th, 1812, Mexico on May 12th, 1846, Spain on April 25th, 1898, Germany on April 4th, 1917, Austria-Hungary on December 7th, 1917, Japan on December 8th, 1941, Germany on December 11th, 1941, Italy the same day and then Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania on June 4th, 1942. That’s it, folks.
Even when fighting in the Civil War, Lincoln did not ask for a declaration of war against the Confederacy in what turned out to be the bloodiest war in U.S. history. Nor did we (or the United Nations) declare war against North Korea in 1950. Nor did we declare war when Eisenhower and Kennedy committed U.S. forces to aid South Vietnam.
In the aftermath of the Vietnam War, Congress passed the War Powers Act of 1973, and which included something called the Authorization to Use Military Force. Since this law was passed, there has been a long list of military actions in which U.S. men and women were committed to combat without a declaration of war.
Just a few are the invasions of Haiti and Grenada, Operation El Dorado Canyon in which U.S. Navy and Air Force aircraft bombed Libya. Included in the list are Operations Desert Shield and Storm, the bombing of Libya to help topple Qaddaffi, Operation Praying Mantis during which the U.S. destroyed most of the Iranian Navy in 1988. More recently, the list includes U.S. airstrikes in Syria and special forces raids to kill ISIS leaders. The list in this post is far from complete, but every President – Democrat or Republican – has sent U.S. military forces into combat without going to Congress to get a formal declaration of war.
The original War Powers Act requires the President to go to Congress within 48 hours of U.S. forces going into action and limits the use of U.S. forces for 60 days without Congressional approval. It does not require him or her to ask for a declaration of war but does require the President to come to Congress, explain why, and ultimately ask for money to fund the combat.
The War Powers Act has been modified several times since 1973, and the last time was in 2001 to give President Bush (and future presidents) more latitude to use U.S. forces to combat terrorism.
However, if you think this is a new, phenomenon, think again. Presidents Washington, Adams, Jefferson and Madison all committed U.S. forces to combat without a declaration of war. To wit, Washington sent the army to fight Native Americans in the Second Cherokee-Indian War and the Northwest Indian War. Adam’s turned the U.S. Navy loose on French privateers and the French Navy in the Quasi-War of 1798 – 1800. Then, Jefferson committed the U.S. Navy and Marines to the Mediterranean in 1803 to fight the Barbary Pirates. Between 1806 and 1810, Jefferson and his successor Madison sent the U.S. Navy into the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi Delta to kill and capture privateers operating under French and Spanish flags as well as pirates.
The point of this post is simply this. Ever since the earliest days of this nation, our presidents have committed our military to combat without a declaration of war.
Statements by some members of Congress claiming the air strike in Iran required a declaration of war show their lack of understanding of U.S. history and law. Their statements assume we the people will take their statements as “fact.” We the people are not stupid nor ignorant. Many of us know our history, and politicians who make these statements show their ignorance.
Chart is from the U.S. Senate archives showing the list of declarations of war.