In his latest book, Michael Beschloss details the windup to eight wars — and the executive branch involvement in each.
With the exception of the Korean War, all of these wars received either a formal congressional declaration of war (the War of 1812; the Mexican-American War in 1846; the Spanish-American War in 1898; WWI in 1917; and WWII in 1941-42) or some form of congressional authorization (Civil War in 1861 and the Vietnam War in 1964).
In Presidents of War, Beschloss sounds the alarm about the president's power to drag the nation into war. Yet a more pressing danger and indictment of presidential power may be the "little wars" and military interventions not authorized by Congress and not covered in this book.
Read Full Article »
