WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.359 You know, when you picture the launch sequence 00:00:03.359 --> 00:00:06.379 for a major weapon -like in one of those really 00:00:06.379 --> 00:00:09.919 tense Cold War submarine movies, there is always 00:00:09.919 --> 00:00:12.300 a very specific protocol. Right, a whole two 00:00:12.300 --> 00:00:14.839 key system. Exactly. One officer has a key, the 00:00:14.839 --> 00:00:16.679 other officer has a key. They stand across the 00:00:16.679 --> 00:00:18.539 room from each other, they make eye contact, 00:00:18.699 --> 00:00:20.440 and they have to turn those keys at the exact 00:00:20.440 --> 00:00:22.879 same time. And I mean, that design is a physical 00:00:22.879 --> 00:00:26.699 mechanical guarantee. It ensures that no single 00:00:26.699 --> 00:00:29.440 human being can unilaterally make a decision 00:00:29.440 --> 00:00:32.820 of that magnitude. It literally forces consensus. 00:00:33.100 --> 00:00:35.539 It prevents a rogue commander from just acting 00:00:35.539 --> 00:00:38.259 on a whim simply because the mechanism itself 00:00:38.259 --> 00:00:41.420 demands shared responsibility. But then you step 00:00:41.420 --> 00:00:43.479 out of the submarine and into the Oval Office 00:00:43.479 --> 00:00:45.859 and you look at the history of how the United 00:00:45.859 --> 00:00:47.859 States actually goes to war and suddenly you 00:00:47.859 --> 00:00:50.039 realize that one of those keys has been missing 00:00:50.039 --> 00:00:52.570 for a very long time. Or at the very least one 00:00:52.570 --> 00:00:54.710 side figured out how to pick the lock. Right. 00:00:54.950 --> 00:00:57.789 Exactly. So today we are tearing apart the origin 00:00:57.789 --> 00:01:01.270 story of the War Powers Resolution of 1973. It 00:01:01.270 --> 00:01:03.649 is quite the story. It really is. And if you 00:01:03.649 --> 00:01:05.810 are out there prepping for a constitutional law 00:01:05.810 --> 00:01:08.510 exam or, you know, maybe you were just insanely 00:01:08.510 --> 00:01:11.310 curious about how power actually works in Washington 00:01:11.310 --> 00:01:14.150 behind all the press conferences, this deep dive 00:01:14.150 --> 00:01:16.459 is absolutely for you. Yeah, we are going to 00:01:16.459 --> 00:01:18.980 be looking at some incredible historical accounts, 00:01:19.400 --> 00:01:21.859 legislative histories, and some fairly heavy 00:01:21.859 --> 00:01:24.700 constitutional analyses to figure out how the 00:01:24.700 --> 00:01:26.900 mechanism of war broke down. Because the clash 00:01:26.900 --> 00:01:29.099 between the president and Congress over military 00:01:29.099 --> 00:01:31.959 action is what's a known constant in American 00:01:31.959 --> 00:01:34.799 politics. Oh, absolutely. But the specific pivotal 00:01:34.799 --> 00:01:38.560 law that was passed in 1973, it wasn't just another 00:01:38.560 --> 00:01:41.319 routine disagreement over foreign policy. No, 00:01:41.340 --> 00:01:44.099 not at all. It was the result of this intense 00:01:44.099 --> 00:01:46.260 historical and constitutional pressure cooker. 00:01:46.819 --> 00:01:48.799 So we are not just going to sit here and read 00:01:48.799 --> 00:01:50.819 the text of the law. Right. That would be incredibly 00:01:50.819 --> 00:01:53.379 boring. Exactly. Our mission today is to uncover 00:01:53.379 --> 00:01:56.319 the sequence of events, the historical overreaches 00:01:56.319 --> 00:01:59.780 and the absolute boiling point in the 1970s that 00:01:59.780 --> 00:02:02.060 forced the legislative branch to fundamentally 00:02:02.060 --> 00:02:05.079 challenge the commander in chief. But to really 00:02:05.079 --> 00:02:08.800 grasp why 1973 was such an explosive moment, 00:02:09.039 --> 00:02:11.340 starting the 1970s is actually way too late. 00:02:11.620 --> 00:02:14.039 Yeah, you have to rewind. We have to rewind all 00:02:14.039 --> 00:02:16.639 the way back to 1787. We need to look at the 00:02:16.639 --> 00:02:19.599 original blueprints of American war power because 00:02:19.599 --> 00:02:22.939 the framers of the Constitution were, well, they 00:02:22.939 --> 00:02:25.240 were terrified of a monarchy. They had just fought 00:02:25.240 --> 00:02:27.520 a brutal revolution against a king who could 00:02:28.500 --> 00:02:30.919 plunge his entire nation into war on a whim. 00:02:31.259 --> 00:02:33.319 Right. So they divided the power to make war 00:02:33.319 --> 00:02:35.740 very carefully between the legislative and executive 00:02:35.740 --> 00:02:38.409 branches. And by doing that, they created what 00:02:38.409 --> 00:02:41.969 later legal scholars and actually a 1973 committee 00:02:41.969 --> 00:02:44.810 report would call a twilight zone of concurrent 00:02:44.810 --> 00:02:47.629 authority. A twilight zone. I love that phrase. 00:02:47.710 --> 00:02:50.669 It's very accurate because the Constitution doesn't 00:02:50.669 --> 00:02:53.449 actually draw a perfectly bright line between 00:02:53.449 --> 00:02:56.449 who controls the military. It deliberately scrambles 00:02:56.449 --> 00:02:59.330 the responsibilities. OK, let's unpack this because 00:02:59.330 --> 00:03:01.770 if we look at Article one, section eight of the 00:03:01.770 --> 00:03:04.090 Constitution, Congress has handed a massive amount 00:03:04.090 --> 00:03:06.180 of authority. They don't just get some vague 00:03:06.180 --> 00:03:08.719 oversight role. They get the power to declare 00:03:08.719 --> 00:03:12.300 war. They can grant letters of marquee and reprisal. 00:03:12.520 --> 00:03:14.620 And actually, I want to pause on that for a second 00:03:14.620 --> 00:03:16.659 because letters of marquee sounds like something 00:03:16.659 --> 00:03:20.280 out of a pirate movie. What actually is that 00:03:20.280 --> 00:03:22.479 mechanism? Yeah, it's I mean, it is essentially 00:03:22.479 --> 00:03:24.719 state -sponsored privateering. Wow. You have 00:03:24.719 --> 00:03:27.840 to remember in the 18th century, the United States 00:03:27.840 --> 00:03:31.620 didn't have a massive standing Navy. So if we 00:03:31.620 --> 00:03:34.830 went to war. Congress had the power to issue 00:03:34.830 --> 00:03:37.229 legal documents, these letters of marquee to 00:03:37.229 --> 00:03:40.150 private merchant ship owners. Just regular citizens. 00:03:40.270 --> 00:03:42.689 Right. It gave those private citizens the legal 00:03:42.689 --> 00:03:45.569 right to arm their ships, attack enemy vessels, 00:03:45.710 --> 00:03:47.689 capture them, and bring them back to port to 00:03:47.689 --> 00:03:50.449 be sold in a prize court. That is wild to think 00:03:50.449 --> 00:03:52.770 about today. It was a crucial military power, 00:03:52.770 --> 00:03:54.789 and the founders gave it strictly to Congress, 00:03:54.830 --> 00:03:57.789 not the president. So Congress is literally licensing 00:03:57.789 --> 00:04:00.710 private citizens to commit acts of war. And their 00:04:00.710 --> 00:04:03.729 power doesn't stop there. Congress has the power 00:04:03.729 --> 00:04:06.509 to raise and support armies, but the Constitution 00:04:06.509 --> 00:04:09.849 places a very strict, explicit two -year funding 00:04:09.849 --> 00:04:11.930 limit on that army. Yes, the two -year limit 00:04:11.930 --> 00:04:15.169 is huge. They also have the power to provide 00:04:15.169 --> 00:04:18.129 and maintain a navy, to make rules for the government 00:04:18.129 --> 00:04:20.689 and regulation of those forces, and to provide 00:04:20.689 --> 00:04:23.949 for calling forth the militia. Congress basically 00:04:23.949 --> 00:04:26.589 holds the purse strings, the rule book, and the 00:04:26.589 --> 00:04:29.959 declarations. But then... You turn to Article 00:04:29.959 --> 00:04:32.959 2, Section 2, which outlines the executive branch. 00:04:33.079 --> 00:04:35.759 Right. And it states, quite simply, that the 00:04:35.759 --> 00:04:37.639 president shall be the commander -in -chief of 00:04:37.639 --> 00:04:40.319 the Army and Navy of the United States and of 00:04:40.319 --> 00:04:42.459 the militia of the several states when called 00:04:42.459 --> 00:04:44.959 into the actual service of the United States. 00:04:45.019 --> 00:04:48.160 That's it. That is it. A sweeping overarching 00:04:48.160 --> 00:04:50.879 title. The contrast there is jarring. I mean, 00:04:51.220 --> 00:04:53.300 Congress gets this highly specific laundry limped 00:04:53.300 --> 00:04:55.720 with fine print about funding limits, and the 00:04:55.720 --> 00:04:57.589 president just gets a grand title. Why do they 00:04:57.589 --> 00:04:59.269 design it this way? If Congress gets to build 00:04:59.269 --> 00:05:01.550 the army and pay for it, why give the president 00:05:01.550 --> 00:05:03.930 the command? Well, the founders recognized a 00:05:03.930 --> 00:05:06.850 practical reality. A deliberative body of hundreds 00:05:06.850 --> 00:05:09.430 of people cannot effectively lead a military 00:05:09.430 --> 00:05:11.290 campaign. Right, you can't govern a battlefield 00:05:11.290 --> 00:05:14.610 by committee. Exactly. You cannot have a legislature 00:05:14.610 --> 00:05:18.209 vote on daily tactics, nor can they react quickly 00:05:18.209 --> 00:05:21.079 enough if the nation is suddenly attacked. The 00:05:21.079 --> 00:05:23.899 president is there to repel immediate invasions 00:05:23.899 --> 00:05:26.300 and to manage the day -to -day operations of 00:05:26.300 --> 00:05:28.920 the armed forces. OK, that makes sense. But entering 00:05:28.920 --> 00:05:32.579 into a long -term war of choice, that required 00:05:32.579 --> 00:05:36.060 broad national consensus through the people's 00:05:36.060 --> 00:05:38.439 representatives. So going back to our submarine 00:05:38.439 --> 00:05:41.319 analogy. It sounds like the founders set up a 00:05:41.319 --> 00:05:44.160 joint bank account for a very dangerous business. 00:05:44.240 --> 00:05:45.779 That's a great way to look at it. They put the 00:05:45.779 --> 00:05:47.959 steering wheel in the president's hands, but 00:05:47.959 --> 00:05:50.459 they locked the gas tank and gave Congress the 00:05:50.459 --> 00:05:53.399 key. If Congress doesn't want the war, they just 00:05:53.399 --> 00:05:55.839 stop paying for the gas. And that tension was 00:05:55.839 --> 00:05:58.139 entirely intentional. It was meant to require 00:05:58.139 --> 00:06:01.399 a super majority to override a president or to 00:06:01.399 --> 00:06:03.600 force a president to constantly beg Congress 00:06:03.600 --> 00:06:06.860 for resources. It's a feature, not a bug. Exactly. 00:06:07.300 --> 00:06:09.459 But when you have overlapping responsibilities, 00:06:10.040 --> 00:06:12.600 when Congress provides the military but the president 00:06:12.600 --> 00:06:15.339 commands it, you inherently create friction. 00:06:15.930 --> 00:06:18.389 Ambition is baked into the system. You cannot 00:06:18.389 --> 00:06:21.009 leave a gray area in the highest levels of government 00:06:21.009 --> 00:06:24.089 and expect powerful leaders not to explore it. 00:06:24.449 --> 00:06:26.790 And ambitious leaders immediately started exploring 00:06:26.790 --> 00:06:29.410 it. I mean the crisis of 1973 didn't just happen 00:06:29.410 --> 00:06:32.550 in a vacuum. Not at all. Presidents slowly began 00:06:32.550 --> 00:06:34.889 pushing the limits of that twilight zone, almost 00:06:34.889 --> 00:06:36.990 from the moment the ink on the Constitution was 00:06:36.990 --> 00:06:40.220 dry. And Congress pushed back just as hard. We 00:06:40.220 --> 00:06:42.519 see this play out over a century of friction. 00:06:42.620 --> 00:06:44.459 Yeah, there are some great historical examples 00:06:44.459 --> 00:06:47.699 of this. Let's look at the 1847 spot resolutions 00:06:47.699 --> 00:06:50.620 during the Mexican -American War. Abraham Lincoln 00:06:50.620 --> 00:06:52.899 was a young Whig representative in the House 00:06:52.899 --> 00:06:55.500 at the time. What exactly was he trying to do 00:06:55.500 --> 00:06:58.379 with these resolutions? So President James K. 00:06:58.480 --> 00:07:01.240 Polk had sent American troops into a highly disputed 00:07:01.240 --> 00:07:03.920 border area between Texas and Mexico. Which is 00:07:03.920 --> 00:07:07.100 incredibly provocative. Very. And predictably, 00:07:07.339 --> 00:07:09.639 a skirmish broke out and American soldiers were 00:07:09.639 --> 00:07:12.339 killed. So Polk went to Congress and declared 00:07:12.339 --> 00:07:15.500 that Mexico had shed American blood upon the 00:07:15.500 --> 00:07:19.360 American soil. He used that as a pretext to demand 00:07:19.360 --> 00:07:22.560 a declaration of war. But Lincoln and other Whigs 00:07:22.560 --> 00:07:25.139 in Congress were deeply suspicious of this narrative. 00:07:25.139 --> 00:07:27.959 Right. Lincoln introduced a series of resolutions 00:07:27.959 --> 00:07:30.980 demanding that Polk provide Congress with the 00:07:30.980 --> 00:07:33.720 exact spot where the blood was shed. Because 00:07:33.720 --> 00:07:36.259 Lincoln suspected the spot wasn't actually American 00:07:36.259 --> 00:07:39.160 soil at all. Precisely. Lincoln was arguing that 00:07:39.160 --> 00:07:41.860 Polk had deliberately provoked a conflict in 00:07:41.860 --> 00:07:44.819 disputed territory just to force Congress's hand. 00:07:44.860 --> 00:07:47.699 Wow. The mechanism of the spot resolutions was 00:07:47.699 --> 00:07:50.019 a demand for information to challenge the commander 00:07:50.019 --> 00:07:53.240 -in -chief's narrative. It was an early, very 00:07:53.240 --> 00:07:55.600 public attempt by the legislative branch to say, 00:07:55.899 --> 00:07:58.199 you do not get to unilaterally create a war and 00:07:58.199 --> 00:07:59.980 then force us to declare it. But the Mexican 00:07:59.980 --> 00:08:02.079 -American war happened anyway. It did. So the 00:08:02.079 --> 00:08:04.800 president's maneuver ultimately worked. And we 00:08:04.800 --> 00:08:06.879 see this friction escalate as the country grows. 00:08:07.699 --> 00:08:10.550 If we jump forward to World War I, President 00:08:10.550 --> 00:08:12.850 Woodrow Wilson wants to arm American merchant 00:08:12.850 --> 00:08:15.529 ships to protect them from German U -boats, right? 00:08:16.110 --> 00:08:18.389 And this is before the U .S. has officially entered 00:08:18.389 --> 00:08:20.949 the war. Yes, and Congress is terrified this 00:08:20.949 --> 00:08:23.529 will drag the country into a massive European 00:08:23.529 --> 00:08:27.550 conflict. So what do they do? In 1917, they filibuster 00:08:27.550 --> 00:08:30.370 the armed ship bill. They literally talk it to 00:08:30.370 --> 00:08:32.330 death on the Senate floor to stop the president. 00:08:32.429 --> 00:08:35.789 And how did Wilson respond? He simply bypassed 00:08:35.789 --> 00:08:38.570 them. He dug up an old, obscure anti -piracy 00:08:38.570 --> 00:08:41.990 statute from 1792 and claimed it gave him the 00:08:41.990 --> 00:08:43.789 executive authority to arm the ships anyway. 00:08:44.210 --> 00:08:46.450 So again, the president finds a way around the 00:08:46.450 --> 00:08:48.490 legislative lock. Right. The Twilight Zone gets 00:08:48.490 --> 00:08:50.809 a little bigger. Which brings us to the 1930s. 00:08:51.400 --> 00:08:53.879 Congress is watching Europe destabilize with 00:08:53.879 --> 00:08:56.279 the rise of Nazi Germany, and they're desperately 00:08:56.279 --> 00:08:58.860 trying to build legislative walls to keep the 00:08:58.860 --> 00:09:00.860 president from creeping into the conflict. They 00:09:00.860 --> 00:09:02.879 were very proactive about it at first. Yeah, 00:09:02.879 --> 00:09:05.639 they passed a series of neutrality acts between 00:09:05.639 --> 00:09:10.139 1935 and 1939. How did these acts actually function 00:09:10.139 --> 00:09:12.919 mechanically? The neutrality acts used mandatory 00:09:12.919 --> 00:09:16.519 embargoes. Congress legally prohibited the export 00:09:16.519 --> 00:09:19.379 of arms, ammunition, and implements of war to 00:09:19.379 --> 00:09:22.000 any foreign nations at war. They were trying 00:09:22.000 --> 00:09:24.399 to legally bind the hands of the executive branch 00:09:24.399 --> 00:09:27.600 by making it a criminal offense to supply belligerence. 00:09:27.919 --> 00:09:29.899 And there was also the proposed Ludlow Amendment 00:09:29.899 --> 00:09:32.399 during this same period, which is, I mean, it's 00:09:32.399 --> 00:09:35.399 just a staggering attempt to alter the Constitution 00:09:35.399 --> 00:09:38.159 itself. Oh, the Ludlow Amendment is fascinating. 00:09:38.360 --> 00:09:40.580 It proposed that the United States could not 00:09:40.580 --> 00:09:43.259 declare war without a national popular referendum. 00:09:43.120 --> 00:09:45.960 Literally putting the question to a public vote. 00:09:46.409 --> 00:09:48.789 unless the U .S. was directly attacked first. 00:09:48.970 --> 00:09:51.809 Which is incredible to think about. Wait, a national 00:09:51.809 --> 00:09:54.610 popular vote to go to war? That would completely 00:09:54.610 --> 00:09:57.330 bypass both the president and Congress. It would. 00:09:57.450 --> 00:09:59.509 And it gained incredible traction because the 00:09:59.509 --> 00:10:01.809 anti -war sentiment was so high after World War 00:10:01.809 --> 00:10:04.389 I, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had to exert 00:10:04.389 --> 00:10:07.149 massive political pressure to defeat the Ludlow 00:10:07.149 --> 00:10:09.350 Amendment in the House. He argued it would completely 00:10:09.350 --> 00:10:11.470 cripple his ability to conduct foreign policy. 00:10:11.649 --> 00:10:14.690 And it's FDR who fundamentally shifts this dynamic. 00:10:14.730 --> 00:10:17.960 He really does. When we get to World War II, 00:10:18.340 --> 00:10:20.759 FDR is looking at the existential threat of the 00:10:20.759 --> 00:10:24.740 Axis powers, and he takes incredibly bold unilateral 00:10:24.740 --> 00:10:28.039 actions long before Congress officially declares 00:10:28.039 --> 00:10:30.580 war after Pearl Harbor. Right. We are talking 00:10:30.580 --> 00:10:32.779 about the Destroyers for Bases deal, where he 00:10:32.779 --> 00:10:36.639 just gave 50 U .S. Navy destroyers to the United 00:10:36.639 --> 00:10:39.320 Kingdom. He directed the U .S. Navy to protect 00:10:39.320 --> 00:10:41.700 British shipping vessels, effectively engaging 00:10:41.700 --> 00:10:44.220 in an undeclared naval war in the Atlantic. He 00:10:44.220 --> 00:10:46.740 even ordered the military occupation of Greenland 00:10:46.740 --> 00:10:49.720 and Iceland. Right. So how did he legally justify 00:10:49.720 --> 00:10:52.559 doing all of this without Congress? He relied 00:10:52.559 --> 00:10:54.860 heavily on his inherent powers as commander in 00:10:54.860 --> 00:10:57.120 chief. He argued that the defense of the United 00:10:57.120 --> 00:10:59.139 Kingdom was vital to the defense of the United 00:10:59.139 --> 00:11:01.779 States. So he was framed as defensive. Exactly. 00:11:02.340 --> 00:11:05.259 Therefore, deploying forces to Iceland or giving 00:11:05.259 --> 00:11:09.200 away destroyers wasn't making war, it was executing 00:11:09.200 --> 00:11:11.779 his Article 2 duty to defend a nation from an 00:11:11.779 --> 00:11:15.259 encroaching threat. And he utilized executive 00:11:15.259 --> 00:11:17.779 agreements rather than formal treaties, which 00:11:17.779 --> 00:11:20.120 bypassed the Senate's approval process entirely. 00:11:20.639 --> 00:11:22.399 Okay, here's where it gets really interesting. 00:11:22.980 --> 00:11:26.750 History, and frankly the American public, remembers 00:11:26.750 --> 00:11:29.870 FDR's actions before entering World War II as 00:11:29.870 --> 00:11:32.990 heroic necessities. Yes, absolutely. He is viewed 00:11:32.990 --> 00:11:36.029 as the savvy leader who recognized the evil of 00:11:36.029 --> 00:11:38.330 fascism and did whatever he had to do to stop 00:11:38.330 --> 00:11:41.129 it while tied down by an isolationist, stubborn 00:11:41.129 --> 00:11:44.750 Congress. Right. But structurally, from a purely 00:11:44.750 --> 00:11:47.110 constitutional standpoint, he was laying the 00:11:47.110 --> 00:11:49.470 groundwork for the exact executive overreach 00:11:49.470 --> 00:11:51.809 that would terrify Congress three decades later. 00:11:51.929 --> 00:11:54.210 What's fascinating here is the paradox of executive 00:11:54.210 --> 00:11:57.409 power. When a beloved president during an existential 00:11:57.409 --> 00:12:00.190 globally recognized crisis acts unilaterally 00:12:00.190 --> 00:12:03.210 and is praised for it, the fabric of the Constitution 00:12:03.210 --> 00:12:05.490 stretches. Right, the boundaries shift. The boundaries 00:12:05.490 --> 00:12:08.049 of the Twilight Zone are pushed outward. The 00:12:08.049 --> 00:12:10.559 danger is that a precedent is set. The executive 00:12:10.559 --> 00:12:13.299 branch learns that it can initiate military actions, 00:12:13.820 --> 00:12:16.639 commit troops, and engage in hostilities. And 00:12:16.639 --> 00:12:19.159 as long as they frame it as a defensive necessity 00:12:19.159 --> 00:12:22.480 or a vital national interest, they can bypass 00:12:22.480 --> 00:12:25.059 the formal declaration of war process entirely. 00:12:25.519 --> 00:12:28.059 It's like you stretch the rubber band to save 00:12:28.059 --> 00:12:30.899 the world, but once it's stretched, it never 00:12:30.899 --> 00:12:34.059 quite snaps back to its original shape. Every 00:12:34.059 --> 00:12:36.700 subsequent president inherits that slightly looser 00:12:36.700 --> 00:12:38.899 rubber band. And that leads directly into the 00:12:38.899 --> 00:12:41.509 Cold War. The era that followed World War II 00:12:41.509 --> 00:12:43.809 wasn't about total war with a clear start and 00:12:43.809 --> 00:12:46.450 end date. It was about containment, proxy wars, 00:12:46.769 --> 00:12:49.490 and continuous global military engagement. Right. 00:12:49.649 --> 00:12:52.250 The Twilight Zone expanded from a legal concept 00:12:52.250 --> 00:12:55.129 into a global military posture. And it was the 00:12:55.129 --> 00:12:57.649 conflict in Southeast Asia that finally brought 00:12:57.649 --> 00:13:00.470 this centuries -long constitutional tension to 00:13:00.470 --> 00:13:02.649 an absolute boiling point. Because the immediate 00:13:02.649 --> 00:13:05.870 catalyst for the 1973 War Powers Resolution was 00:13:05.870 --> 00:13:08.269 the Vietnam War. without a doubt. The United 00:13:08.269 --> 00:13:10.769 States found itself deeply involved for years, 00:13:11.149 --> 00:13:12.970 with hundreds of thousands of troops deployed, 00:13:13.389 --> 00:13:15.669 suffering massive casualties and engaging in 00:13:15.669 --> 00:13:18.690 brutal combat, all without a formal declaration 00:13:18.690 --> 00:13:21.549 of war from Congress. The initial escalation 00:13:21.549 --> 00:13:23.889 was authorized by the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution 00:13:23.889 --> 00:13:26.710 in 1964, which was essentially a blank check 00:13:26.710 --> 00:13:29.669 from Congress to President Lyndon B. Johnson. 00:13:30.570 --> 00:13:33.250 But as the war dragged on and became deeply unpopular, 00:13:33.629 --> 00:13:36.139 Congress felt trapped. Yet, while the broader 00:13:36.139 --> 00:13:39.100 war was a massive point of friction, the ultimate 00:13:39.100 --> 00:13:41.500 breaking point, the actual spark that ignited 00:13:41.500 --> 00:13:44.500 the powder keg was a specific revelation. It 00:13:44.500 --> 00:13:46.639 was the discovery that President Richard Nixon 00:13:46.639 --> 00:13:49.100 had been conducting a massive secret bombing 00:13:49.100 --> 00:13:51.899 campaign against Cambodia. This was known as 00:13:51.899 --> 00:13:54.350 Operation Menu. And we really need to emphasize 00:13:54.350 --> 00:13:57.049 the word secret here, because how does a president 00:13:57.049 --> 00:13:59.629 hide an entire bombing campaign in a sovereign 00:13:59.629 --> 00:14:02.190 nation from the United States Congress? It required 00:14:02.190 --> 00:14:05.549 a deliberate systemic effort to falsify military 00:14:05.549 --> 00:14:08.590 records. They utilized a dual reporting system. 00:14:08.860 --> 00:14:12.419 The pilots flying the B -52 bombers were given 00:14:12.419 --> 00:14:15.399 the actual coordinates for targets inside Cambodia, 00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:18.620 but the radar operators and the official military 00:14:18.620 --> 00:14:20.940 logs recorded the strikes as having occurred 00:14:20.940 --> 00:14:25.080 inside South Vietnam. That is stangering. The 00:14:25.080 --> 00:14:27.259 administration actively lied to the congressional 00:14:27.259 --> 00:14:29.519 committees responsible for oversight and funding. 00:14:29.919 --> 00:14:31.740 So this wasn't just a matter of the president 00:14:31.740 --> 00:14:33.779 not picking up the phone to give Congress a heads 00:14:33.779 --> 00:14:36.879 up. The executive branch was forging official 00:14:36.879 --> 00:14:39.899 documents to hide the fact that they were expanding 00:14:39.899 --> 00:14:42.519 a war into a neutral country. Yes. When the New 00:14:42.519 --> 00:14:45.000 York Times finally broke the story and whistleblowers 00:14:45.000 --> 00:14:47.919 in the military came forward, what was the reaction 00:14:47.919 --> 00:14:51.000 in Congress? It was a profound institutional 00:14:51.000 --> 00:14:54.419 shock. For Congress, this completely transcended 00:14:54.419 --> 00:14:56.620 policy disagreements about Southeast Asia. It 00:14:56.620 --> 00:14:59.620 took a massive psychological toll. I can imagine. 00:14:59.759 --> 00:15:02.039 They realized that their constitutional authority 00:15:02.039 --> 00:15:04.779 wasn't just being bypassed. It was being actively 00:15:04.779 --> 00:15:07.440 subverted. Because if the president can run a 00:15:07.440 --> 00:15:10.019 secret bombing campaign in a sovereign nation, 00:15:10.580 --> 00:15:13.220 utilizing billions of dollars of taxpayer money 00:15:13.220 --> 00:15:16.419 without telling the people whose job it is to 00:15:16.419 --> 00:15:20.389 declare war and appropriate those funds. What 00:15:20.389 --> 00:15:23.309 power does Congress actually have left? Exactly. 00:15:23.429 --> 00:15:25.090 If we connect this to the bigger picture, it 00:15:25.090 --> 00:15:27.250 goes right back to the dual key system you mentioned 00:15:27.250 --> 00:15:29.769 earlier. Right. The president hadn't just used 00:15:29.769 --> 00:15:32.090 his key. He had picked the lock, emptied the 00:15:32.090 --> 00:15:34.250 bank account, and falsified the bank statements. 00:15:34.490 --> 00:15:37.509 There's a perfect way to describe it. Legal scholar 00:15:37.509 --> 00:15:40.149 Philip Bobbitt makes a really compelling argument 00:15:40.149 --> 00:15:42.970 regarding this era. Based on his analysis and 00:15:42.970 --> 00:15:45.789 the sources, he stated plainly that a democracy 00:15:45.789 --> 00:15:52.559 cannot tolerate secret policies. Why? Because 00:15:52.559 --> 00:15:54.600 secrecy inherently protects the government from 00:15:54.600 --> 00:15:57.360 the voters. Exactly. Secret policies fundamentally 00:15:57.360 --> 00:15:59.779 undermine the legitimacy of governmental action. 00:16:00.360 --> 00:16:02.200 If the public and their elected representatives 00:16:02.200 --> 00:16:04.580 are kept entirely in the dark about military 00:16:04.580 --> 00:16:06.919 actions, the foundational consent of the governed 00:16:06.919 --> 00:16:08.820 is destroyed. Right, the whole system breaks 00:16:08.820 --> 00:16:11.860 down. A republic relies on transparency to function. 00:16:12.169 --> 00:16:14.809 When the executive branch applies lethal force 00:16:14.809 --> 00:16:18.029 on a global scale entirely in the shadows, it 00:16:18.029 --> 00:16:22.509 ceases to be a democratic action. Just put yourself 00:16:22.509 --> 00:16:25.110 in the shoes of a citizen or junior senator at 00:16:25.110 --> 00:16:27.950 that time. You wake up, open the newspaper, and 00:16:27.950 --> 00:16:29.889 find out your country has been carpet bombing 00:16:29.889 --> 00:16:32.389 another nation for months. Yeah. It shatters 00:16:32.389 --> 00:16:35.029 the illusion of democratic oversight. It forces 00:16:35.029 --> 00:16:37.649 the realization that the machinery of war is 00:16:37.649 --> 00:16:39.929 operating entirely on its own. The leak of the 00:16:39.929 --> 00:16:42.409 Cambodia bombings was the moment the legislative 00:16:42.409 --> 00:16:45.289 branch realized the Twilight Zone had become 00:16:45.289 --> 00:16:48.019 a black hole. Their Article 1 powers were just 00:16:48.019 --> 00:16:50.220 gone. So they had to act. They had to fight back, 00:16:50.279 --> 00:16:52.379 not just to end the conflict in Vietnam, but 00:16:52.379 --> 00:16:55.059 for their own institutional survival. Congress 00:16:55.059 --> 00:16:57.460 didn't just snap their fingers and draft the 00:16:57.460 --> 00:17:00.679 1973 resolution overnight. The revelation of 00:17:00.679 --> 00:17:03.440 the bombings triggered a massive multi -year 00:17:03.440 --> 00:17:05.980 legislative avalanche. And a long process. Congress 00:17:05.980 --> 00:17:09.039 tried to claw back power piece by piece, building 00:17:09.039 --> 00:17:12.660 a framework of resistance. In 1970, we see the 00:17:12.660 --> 00:17:15.059 McGovern -Hatfield Amendment. How did they try 00:17:15.059 --> 00:17:17.660 to use that to stop Nixon? The McGovern -Hatfield 00:17:17.660 --> 00:17:20.500 Amendment was an attempt to use the ultimate 00:17:20.500 --> 00:17:24.799 article, the power of the purse. It proposed 00:17:24.799 --> 00:17:27.019 legally capping the number of U .S. troops in 00:17:27.019 --> 00:17:30.420 Vietnam and forcing a total withdrawal by literally 00:17:30.420 --> 00:17:32.759 cutting off the funding to pay for the deployment 00:17:32.759 --> 00:17:35.420 after a specific date. Wait, but if Congress 00:17:35.420 --> 00:17:37.400 controls the money, why didn't that just work? 00:17:37.640 --> 00:17:39.660 Why do they need a whole new resolution later? 00:17:40.140 --> 00:17:42.359 Couldn't they just say the war is defunded as 00:17:42.359 --> 00:17:45.500 of Friday? You would think so, but because of 00:17:45.500 --> 00:17:48.000 the brutal political reality of war, it's not 00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:50.759 that simple. Opponents of the amendment argued 00:17:50.759 --> 00:17:53.059 that cutting off funding would mean abandoning 00:17:53.059 --> 00:17:55.819 American troops in the field. Oh, wow. Right, 00:17:55.940 --> 00:17:58.039 leaving them without ammunition or support while 00:17:58.039 --> 00:18:01.079 under fire. No politician wants to be accused 00:18:01.079 --> 00:18:03.839 of defunding the soldiers. Of course not. And 00:18:03.839 --> 00:18:06.319 Nixon understood this leverage perfectly. As 00:18:06.319 --> 00:18:08.519 long as troops were deployed, Congress felt morally 00:18:08.519 --> 00:18:10.880 and politically obligated to fund their protection. 00:18:11.180 --> 00:18:13.440 Ah, so the power of the purse is... actually 00:18:13.440 --> 00:18:16.099 incredibly difficult to use once the shooting 00:18:16.099 --> 00:18:18.339 starts. That makes total sense. A very blunt 00:18:18.339 --> 00:18:20.759 instrument. So Congress tries other tactics. 00:18:21.279 --> 00:18:23.640 Also in 1970, they passed the Cooper Church Amendment, 00:18:24.480 --> 00:18:27.079 which specifically aims to restrict funding for 00:18:27.079 --> 00:18:29.759 U .S. ground operations in Cambodia. And then 00:18:29.759 --> 00:18:33.380 in 1971, they take a huge symbolic step. They 00:18:33.380 --> 00:18:35.700 officially repeal the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. 00:18:35.839 --> 00:18:39.000 They revoke the blank check they gave LBJ back 00:18:39.000 --> 00:18:42.299 in 1964. But Nixon's response to the repeal of 00:18:42.299 --> 00:18:44.599 the Tonkin Gulf Resolution was essentially a 00:18:44.599 --> 00:18:47.700 shrug. Really? Yeah, his administration argued 00:18:47.700 --> 00:18:49.960 that They didn't need the resolution anyway. 00:18:50.119 --> 00:18:51.799 They claimed the president's inherent authority 00:18:51.799 --> 00:18:54.880 as commander in chief under Article 2 was sufficient 00:18:54.880 --> 00:18:57.140 to continue the want to protect American troops 00:18:57.140 --> 00:18:59.740 as they withdrew. It is a terrifying legal loop. 00:18:59.859 --> 00:19:02.059 It really is. The president sends troops into 00:19:02.059 --> 00:19:05.480 danger using a congressional resolution. Congress 00:19:05.480 --> 00:19:07.160 revokes the resolution and the president says, 00:19:07.519 --> 00:19:09.700 well, the troops are in danger now, so my Article 00:19:09.700 --> 00:19:12.019 2 powers allow me to keep fighting to protect 00:19:12.019 --> 00:19:15.079 them. It's a self -justifying war machine. Which 00:19:15.079 --> 00:19:17.779 is exactly why the legislative avalanche continued. 00:19:17.980 --> 00:19:21.440 In 1973, Congress passed the Case Church Amendment, 00:19:21.759 --> 00:19:24.180 which finally cut off all funds for U .S. military 00:19:24.180 --> 00:19:27.339 involvement in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Right. 00:19:27.740 --> 00:19:31.059 This cascade of legislation demonstrates a Congress 00:19:31.059 --> 00:19:34.299 that is waking up, flexing its muscles, and trying 00:19:34.299 --> 00:19:36.359 to build fences around the executive branch. 00:19:36.700 --> 00:19:38.519 And all of this momentum culminates in the meat 00:19:38.519 --> 00:19:41.920 event. Democratic Congressman Clement Zablocki, 00:19:42.180 --> 00:19:45.039 representing Wisconsin's 4th District, introduces 00:19:45.039 --> 00:19:48.250 House Joint Resolution 542. The big one. This 00:19:48.250 --> 00:19:51.069 is the bill that will become the War Powers Resolution. 00:19:51.650 --> 00:19:53.490 And the composition of the support for this bill 00:19:53.490 --> 00:19:56.910 is crucial. It wasn't just liberal antiwar Democrats 00:19:56.910 --> 00:19:59.269 taking a shot at a Republican president. No, 00:19:59.390 --> 00:20:01.630 not at all. It had deep bipartisan support. Right. 00:20:01.950 --> 00:20:04.950 And importantly, it was famously co -sponsored 00:20:04.950 --> 00:20:07.910 by a significant number of U .S. military veterans 00:20:07.910 --> 00:20:10.759 serving in Congress. Think about that for a second. 00:20:11.000 --> 00:20:13.400 This wasn't a group of politicians sitting safely 00:20:13.400 --> 00:20:15.839 in Washington, philosophically debating the Constitution. 00:20:16.279 --> 00:20:18.339 These were military veterans, people who had 00:20:18.339 --> 00:20:20.440 worn the uniform, who understood the grim reality 00:20:20.440 --> 00:20:23.079 of combat, and they were the ones standing up 00:20:23.079 --> 00:20:25.940 saying, we need stricter rules on how our troops 00:20:25.940 --> 00:20:28.599 are sent into harm's way. That detail really 00:20:28.599 --> 00:20:30.920 underscores the impartiality of the historical 00:20:30.920 --> 00:20:33.880 moment. We cannot frame this as a simplistic 00:20:33.880 --> 00:20:36.900 story of Congress acting as flawless heroes while 00:20:36.900 --> 00:20:39.079 Nixon plays the comic book villain. Yeah, it's 00:20:39.079 --> 00:20:41.119 more complicated than that. This was fundamentally 00:20:41.119 --> 00:20:44.460 an institutional immune response. An institutional 00:20:44.460 --> 00:20:48.539 immune response. The body politic realized a 00:20:48.539 --> 00:20:52.119 single organ was doing far too much work and 00:20:52.119 --> 00:20:55.119 stepped in to rebalance the system. Congress, 00:20:55.700 --> 00:20:58.000 regardless of political party, felt the institution 00:20:58.000 --> 00:21:00.720 of the presidency had grown dangerously powerful. 00:21:01.519 --> 00:21:03.859 The executive branch had accumulated so much 00:21:03.859 --> 00:21:07.220 unchecked authority over decades, from FDR through 00:21:07.220 --> 00:21:09.759 the Cold War to Vietnam, that the legislative 00:21:09.759 --> 00:21:12.380 branch felt compelled to act collectively to 00:21:12.380 --> 00:21:14.279 restore the balance intended by the framers. 00:21:14.359 --> 00:21:16.460 It was about protecting the legislative institution 00:21:16.460 --> 00:21:19.160 itself. Exactly. So Congress builds this bipartisan 00:21:19.160 --> 00:21:21.539 coalition, backed by veterans. They have the 00:21:21.539 --> 00:21:24.049 momentum. But the commander -in -chief is not 00:21:24.049 --> 00:21:26.069 going to just sign away his power without a fight. 00:21:26.250 --> 00:21:29.109 No, he is not. The stage is set for a massive 00:21:29.109 --> 00:21:33.250 showdown in the final months of 1973. This is 00:21:33.250 --> 00:21:36.130 a period of immense political turmoil. The timeline 00:21:36.130 --> 00:21:39.009 is incredibly tight. The War Powers Resolution 00:21:39.009 --> 00:21:42.410 passes the House of Representatives on July 18th 00:21:42.410 --> 00:21:46.490 by a vote of 244 to 170. OK. Two days later, 00:21:46.609 --> 00:21:49.549 on July 20th, it passes the Senate by a margin 00:21:49.549 --> 00:21:52.960 of 75 to 20. Congress throws down the gauntlet. 00:21:53.240 --> 00:21:55.200 But President Nixon views the legislation as 00:21:55.200 --> 00:21:57.900 a direct assault on the constitutional authority 00:21:57.900 --> 00:22:00.220 of his office, and he communicates his opposition 00:22:00.220 --> 00:22:03.180 in a highly theatrical manner. How so? Well, 00:22:03.440 --> 00:22:05.079 Representative Gerald R. Ford, who would soon 00:22:05.079 --> 00:22:07.279 become vice president and then president, stands 00:22:07.279 --> 00:22:09.779 up on the floor of the House and reads, A telegram 00:22:09.779 --> 00:22:12.380 allowed. A telegram from President Nixon directly 00:22:12.380 --> 00:22:15.140 to Congress. He didn't just issue a press release. 00:22:15.579 --> 00:22:18.259 He sent a telegram to be read on the floor warning 00:22:18.259 --> 00:22:20.599 Congress that he would veto the legislation because 00:22:20.599 --> 00:22:23.440 it contained dangerous and unconstitutional restrictions. 00:22:23.440 --> 00:22:26.220 Right. He isn't arguing policy. He's claiming 00:22:26.220 --> 00:22:28.460 the law violates the foundational law of the 00:22:28.460 --> 00:22:31.960 land. And on October 24th, 1973, Nixon follows 00:22:31.960 --> 00:22:34.640 through and vetoes the bill. But the timing here 00:22:34.640 --> 00:22:38.470 is critical. The fall of 1973 is the height of 00:22:38.470 --> 00:22:41.269 the Watergate scandal. Oh, right. Just days before 00:22:41.269 --> 00:22:43.589 Nixon's veto, the Saturday Night Massacre occurred, 00:22:44.009 --> 00:22:46.529 where Nixon fired the special prosecutor investigating 00:22:46.529 --> 00:22:49.269 him, leading to the resignations of the attorney 00:22:49.269 --> 00:22:51.789 general and deputy attorney general. So his approval 00:22:51.789 --> 00:22:53.970 ratings are tanking. Nixon's political capital 00:22:53.970 --> 00:22:56.769 was entirely destroyed. Which explains how Congress 00:22:56.769 --> 00:22:59.589 was able to pull off what happened next. On November 00:22:59.589 --> 00:23:03.710 7th, 1973, Congress strikes back. They override 00:23:03.710 --> 00:23:06.000 the presidential veto. with the required two 00:23:06.000 --> 00:23:08.940 -thirds majority in both chambers. Yes. The House 00:23:08.940 --> 00:23:12.839 votes to override 284 to 135, and the Senate 00:23:12.839 --> 00:23:16.359 votes to override 75 to 18. The veto is crushed 00:23:16.359 --> 00:23:18.799 on national television, and the War Powers Resolution 00:23:18.799 --> 00:23:21.240 becomes the law of the land. It is a monumental 00:23:21.240 --> 00:23:24.059 moment in American legislative history, but we 00:23:24.059 --> 00:23:26.579 really must pause and deeply analyze Nixon's 00:23:26.579 --> 00:23:28.519 argument. Okay, let's do that. Why did he call 00:23:28.519 --> 00:23:31.299 the resolution unconstitutional? It wasn't just 00:23:31.299 --> 00:23:33.019 desperate rhetoric from a weakened president. 00:23:33.140 --> 00:23:36.259 It was based on a very specific, fiercely defended 00:23:36.259 --> 00:23:39.059 reading of Article 2. Okay, let's unpack Nixon's 00:23:39.059 --> 00:23:40.940 perspective. Because to understand the modern 00:23:40.940 --> 00:23:43.640 presidency, we have to treat his constitutional 00:23:43.640 --> 00:23:47.339 defense with academic respect. What did the War 00:23:47.339 --> 00:23:50.460 Powers Resolution actually do mechanically? It 00:23:50.460 --> 00:23:52.579 essentially put a ticking clock on the president. 00:23:52.980 --> 00:23:55.119 Right. It requires the president to formally 00:23:55.119 --> 00:23:57.599 notify Congress within 48 hours of committing 00:23:57.599 --> 00:24:01.160 armed forces to military action. Then, it forbids 00:24:01.160 --> 00:24:03.319 those forces from remaining in combat for more 00:24:03.319 --> 00:24:06.200 than 60 days with an additional 30 -day withdrawal 00:24:06.200 --> 00:24:09.619 period unless Congress explicitly grants authorization 00:24:09.619 --> 00:24:12.220 or declares war. And from the executive's point 00:24:12.220 --> 00:24:13.880 of view, restricting the commander -in -chief 00:24:13.880 --> 00:24:17.619 to an arbitrary 60 -day statutory clock fundamentally 00:24:17.619 --> 00:24:19.680 infringes on his Article II duties. Because it 00:24:19.680 --> 00:24:22.000 limits his command. Right. The president's explicit 00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:24.259 constitutional job is to lead the armed forces 00:24:24.259 --> 00:24:27.160 and defend the nation. Nixon's argument was this. 00:24:27.579 --> 00:24:29.799 What if a military operation vital to national 00:24:29.799 --> 00:24:34.259 security takes 65 days? If Congress simply refuses 00:24:34.259 --> 00:24:37.380 to hold a vote like, if they just go on recess, 00:24:37.799 --> 00:24:40.519 The president is legally forced by the statute 00:24:40.519 --> 00:24:43.839 to abandon the mission. Does the military instantly 00:24:43.839 --> 00:24:46.859 become an illegal occupation force on day 61? 00:24:47.799 --> 00:24:50.000 Do they just drop their weapons? That's a compelling 00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:53.619 point. Nixon viewed this clock as an unconstitutional 00:24:53.619 --> 00:24:56.160 handcuff. And this wasn't just a Nixon argument 00:24:56.160 --> 00:24:59.180 born out of Watergate. Future administrations 00:24:59.180 --> 00:25:02.140 echo these exact same constitutional reservations. 00:25:02.160 --> 00:25:04.339 Oh, absolutely. The Reagan administration harbored 00:25:04.339 --> 00:25:07.000 extensive reservations about the law's constitutionality. 00:25:07.309 --> 00:25:09.490 The legal adviser to the State Department at 00:25:09.490 --> 00:25:13.049 the time, Abraham Sofer, argued that the resolution's 00:25:13.049 --> 00:25:16.430 deadlines create unwise limitations on presidential 00:25:16.430 --> 00:25:19.089 authority. The Reagan administration also argued 00:25:19.089 --> 00:25:21.730 the law shouldn't apply to anti -terrorist operations, 00:25:22.009 --> 00:25:23.990 viewing those more like international law enforcement 00:25:23.990 --> 00:25:26.849 than state -on -state hostilities. Right. The 00:25:26.849 --> 00:25:29.509 core executive argument remains constant to this 00:25:29.509 --> 00:25:32.789 day. Article 2 grants the president inherent 00:25:32.789 --> 00:25:35.569 dynamic authority to deploy troops. That article 00:25:35.569 --> 00:25:37.869 I cannot simply legislate away with a stopwatch. 00:25:38.250 --> 00:25:40.690 So what does this all mean? Congress wins the 00:25:40.690 --> 00:25:43.849 vote. The veto is crushed. The law goes into 00:25:43.849 --> 00:25:46.660 effect. Did they successfully put the genie back 00:25:46.660 --> 00:25:48.980 in the bottle? Did they solve the Twilight Zone 00:25:48.980 --> 00:25:52.000 problem? No. Passing the law didn't erase the 00:25:52.000 --> 00:25:54.779 gray area. It just dropped a highly controversial 00:25:54.779 --> 00:25:56.880 set of rules right into the middle of it. Wow. 00:25:57.240 --> 00:26:00.180 And it ignited a deep constitutional debate over 00:26:00.180 --> 00:26:03.460 whether the law itself is actually legal because 00:26:03.460 --> 00:26:05.519 the arguments over the War Powers Resolution 00:26:05.519 --> 00:26:08.720 get into the very DNA of how the Founding Fathers 00:26:08.720 --> 00:26:11.250 viewed the structure of government. To justify 00:26:11.250 --> 00:26:14.569 passing the 1973 law, Congress had to point to 00:26:14.569 --> 00:26:16.829 something specific in the Constitution that gave 00:26:16.829 --> 00:26:18.849 them the right to regulate the Commander -in 00:26:18.849 --> 00:26:20.910 -Chief. They couldn't just say, we're mad about 00:26:20.910 --> 00:26:23.390 Cambodia. Right. They need legal standing. So 00:26:23.390 --> 00:26:25.789 they cited the necessary and proper clause. The 00:26:25.789 --> 00:26:28.430 sweep up clause. Exactly. It states, Congress 00:26:28.430 --> 00:26:31.069 has the power to make all laws necessary and 00:26:31.069 --> 00:26:33.910 proper for carrying into execution its own powers, 00:26:34.349 --> 00:26:37.349 but also all other powers vested by the Constitution 00:26:37.349 --> 00:26:40.059 in the government of the United States. or in 00:26:40.059 --> 00:26:42.579 any department or officer thereof. Or in any 00:26:42.579 --> 00:26:45.099 officer thereof. That is the linchpin. Okay, 00:26:45.240 --> 00:26:47.799 unpack that. Congress argued that since the president 00:26:47.799 --> 00:26:50.240 is technically an officer of the United States, 00:26:50.539 --> 00:26:53.119 Congress has the authority to pass laws that 00:26:53.119 --> 00:26:55.700 structure and regulate exactly how the president 00:26:55.700 --> 00:26:58.380 executes his war powers. So they can build the 00:26:58.380 --> 00:27:01.019 operational framework. Exactly. They claim the 00:27:01.019 --> 00:27:03.220 authority to build the operational framework 00:27:03.220 --> 00:27:05.619 within which the commander -in -chief must operate. 00:27:06.119 --> 00:27:10.109 But the executive branch fought back. Using the 00:27:10.109 --> 00:27:12.750 separation of powers doctrine and there is a 00:27:12.750 --> 00:27:15.609 fascinating historical parallel to this showdown 00:27:15.609 --> 00:27:18.130 that we have to talk about Yes, the crisis between 00:27:18.130 --> 00:27:20.670 President Andrew Johnson and Congress over the 00:27:20.670 --> 00:27:23.890 Tenure of Office Act in 1867. Oh, this is a brilliant 00:27:23.890 --> 00:27:27.609 comparison back in 1867 Congress passed a law 00:27:27.609 --> 00:27:30.660 over President Johnson's veto that required the 00:27:30.660 --> 00:27:32.660 president to get congressional approval before 00:27:32.660 --> 00:27:34.799 he could fire his own cabinet members. Right. 00:27:35.079 --> 00:27:37.359 Congress was actively trying to micromanage the 00:27:37.359 --> 00:27:39.740 executive branch to protect the Secretary of 00:27:39.740 --> 00:27:42.160 War, Edwin Stanton. Right. And when President 00:27:42.160 --> 00:27:44.799 Johnson defied that act and fired Stanton anyway, 00:27:45.059 --> 00:27:47.460 Stanton literally barricaded himself in his office. 00:27:47.819 --> 00:27:50.700 The House impeached Johnson. It was chaos. It 00:27:50.700 --> 00:27:53.779 was. He survived removal in the Senate by only 00:27:53.779 --> 00:27:57.180 one single vote. But the legal coda to that story 00:27:57.180 --> 00:28:00.720 is crucial for 1973. What happened? In 1926, 00:28:00.859 --> 00:28:03.019 the Supreme Court ruled in a case called Myers 00:28:03.019 --> 00:28:05.980 v. United States. Chief Justice William Howard 00:28:05.980 --> 00:28:08.140 Taft, who was actually a former president himself, 00:28:08.640 --> 00:28:11.319 wrote the Lanyun stating that the 1867 Tenure 00:28:11.319 --> 00:28:14.460 of Office Act had been unconstitutional all along. 00:28:14.599 --> 00:28:18.000 Why? Was Taft's reasoning? Taft argued that the 00:28:18.000 --> 00:28:20.720 president must have absolute removal power over 00:28:20.720 --> 00:28:23.980 purely executive officers to fulfill his constitutional 00:28:23.980 --> 00:28:26.640 duty to take care that the laws be faithfully 00:28:26.640 --> 00:28:30.099 executed. I see. Congress cannot usurp the president's 00:28:30.099 --> 00:28:33.420 core executive functions. So the executive branch's 00:28:33.420 --> 00:28:35.779 modern argument against the War Powers Resolution 00:28:35.779 --> 00:28:38.059 is essentially you are doing the Tenure of Office 00:28:38.059 --> 00:28:41.099 Act all over again. Wow. They argue that requiring 00:28:41.099 --> 00:28:43.259 congressional approval for military deployments 00:28:43.259 --> 00:28:46.799 and enforcing a 60 -day improperly breaches the 00:28:46.799 --> 00:28:48.779 separation of powers. But the scholars defending 00:28:48.779 --> 00:28:51.619 Congress have incredible counter arguments. Philip 00:28:51.619 --> 00:28:53.839 Bobbitt's legal analysis is fascinating because 00:28:53.839 --> 00:28:56.980 it challenges how we define the very word declare 00:28:56.980 --> 00:29:00.210 in the Constitution's Declare War Clause. Yes. 00:29:00.410 --> 00:29:02.630 Bobbitt's argument is highly influential here. 00:29:02.809 --> 00:29:05.849 He argues that our modern notion that declaring 00:29:05.849 --> 00:29:08.890 war simply means commencing or starting a fight 00:29:08.890 --> 00:29:11.829 is a contemporary preconception. Right. It is 00:29:11.829 --> 00:29:14.490 a misunderstanding of 18th century international 00:29:14.490 --> 00:29:18.190 law. He argues that the framers believed statutory 00:29:18.190 --> 00:29:20.670 authorization like passing regular funding bills 00:29:20.670 --> 00:29:23.809 and specific laws was the normal route for committing 00:29:23.809 --> 00:29:26.910 the U .S. to military action. Yes. A formal declaration 00:29:26.910 --> 00:29:29.660 of war was meant only for total wars. where the 00:29:29.660 --> 00:29:31.779 goal was the complete subjugation of another 00:29:31.779 --> 00:29:34.400 nation. It was a legal announcement to neutral 00:29:34.400 --> 00:29:36.940 countries, not a prerequisite for pulling a trigger. 00:29:37.259 --> 00:29:39.259 And he cites the history of the Quasi -War with 00:29:39.259 --> 00:29:43.059 France from 1798 to 1800. Oh, right. This was 00:29:43.059 --> 00:29:45.880 a significant bloody naval conflict authorized 00:29:45.880 --> 00:29:49.039 by Congress through a series of specific statutes. 00:29:49.200 --> 00:29:51.160 They authorized the capturing of French ships, 00:29:51.339 --> 00:29:53.680 the arming of merchant men. But they never formally 00:29:53.680 --> 00:29:56.359 declared war. Exactly. Congress never formally 00:29:56.359 --> 00:29:59.079 issued a declaration of war against France, yet 00:29:59.079 --> 00:30:01.619 the Supreme Court at the time recognized it as 00:30:01.619 --> 00:30:04.589 a fully constitutional, legally authorized conflict. 00:30:04.890 --> 00:30:07.109 So Bobbitt's point is that constitutional powers 00:30:07.109 --> 00:30:10.269 are linked and sequenced. Congress structures 00:30:10.269 --> 00:30:12.849 the armed forces by passing laws and appropriating 00:30:12.849 --> 00:30:15.109 money, and the president commands what Congress 00:30:15.109 --> 00:30:18.049 builds. Correct. Therefore, we shouldn't fetishize 00:30:18.049 --> 00:30:21.190 the formal act of declaring war. The statutory 00:30:21.190 --> 00:30:23.349 controls, like the reporting requirements and 00:30:23.349 --> 00:30:26.490 clocks and the war powers resolution, are completely 00:30:26.490 --> 00:30:28.549 in line with how the founders intended Congress 00:30:28.549 --> 00:30:31.269 to regulate conflict. And this raises an important 00:30:31.269 --> 00:30:33.750 question about the physical reality of the military 00:30:33.750 --> 00:30:36.049 the founders envisioned versus the military that 00:30:36.049 --> 00:30:38.569 exists today. And this might be the most revealing 00:30:38.569 --> 00:30:41.049 detail regarding why the system broke down. Let's 00:30:41.049 --> 00:30:43.910 hear it. We have to look at the specific constitutional 00:30:43.910 --> 00:30:46.930 wording regarding the Army versus the Navy. Yes. 00:30:47.329 --> 00:30:50.410 The Constitution authorizes Congress to provide 00:30:50.410 --> 00:30:53.690 and maintain a Navy. The word maintain implies 00:30:53.690 --> 00:30:56.990 permanence. A Navy is expensive. Wooden ships 00:30:56.990 --> 00:31:00.589 take years to build. A Navy was a permanent fixture 00:31:00.589 --> 00:31:03.089 of national defense to protect shipping and the 00:31:03.089 --> 00:31:05.130 coasts. But when it comes to the land forces, 00:31:05.410 --> 00:31:07.970 the Constitution only authorizes Congress to 00:31:07.970 --> 00:31:11.289 raise and support an army. Raise, not maintain. 00:31:11.609 --> 00:31:14.690 Right. And it explicitly slaps a strict two -year 00:31:14.690 --> 00:31:17.839 limit on any funding for it. The Founders envisioned 00:31:17.839 --> 00:31:20.279 fighting land wars largely the way they fought 00:31:20.279 --> 00:31:23.140 the revolution. Wow, so. You rely on state militias, 00:31:23.319 --> 00:31:26.240 and if a major crisis happens, Congress raises 00:31:26.240 --> 00:31:28.799 a Continental Army from scratch and disbands 00:31:28.799 --> 00:31:31.299 it the moment the crisis is over. Because they 00:31:31.299 --> 00:31:34.200 were absolutely terrified of a permanent standing 00:31:34.200 --> 00:31:37.740 army. They remembered King George III quartering 00:31:37.740 --> 00:31:40.400 troops in their homes. To the Founders, a massive 00:31:40.400 --> 00:31:42.819 standing army wasn't a tool of defense. It was 00:31:42.819 --> 00:31:44.980 what tyrants used to oppress their own people. 00:31:45.230 --> 00:31:47.950 So the original system was designed with a built 00:31:47.950 --> 00:31:51.170 -in physical limitation. The president is commander 00:31:51.170 --> 00:31:53.289 -in -chief, but if he wants to fight a land war, 00:31:53.609 --> 00:31:55.849 he literally has to go to Congress to ask them 00:31:55.849 --> 00:31:58.230 to build an army for him first. Right. And he 00:31:58.230 --> 00:32:00.130 has to go back every two years to ask for money 00:32:00.130 --> 00:32:02.710 to keep it. The friction wasn't just legal theory, 00:32:03.049 --> 00:32:05.630 it was a logistical reality. But fast forward 00:32:05.630 --> 00:32:09.450 to 1973, or today. The United States has had 00:32:09.450 --> 00:32:12.109 a massive, modern, permanent standing military 00:32:12.109 --> 00:32:15.130 for decades. The dynamic the founders imagined 00:32:15.130 --> 00:32:17.390 is completely gone. The president doesn't have 00:32:17.390 --> 00:32:20.329 to ask Congress to raise an army. Millions of 00:32:20.329 --> 00:32:23.000 troops are already in uniform. They are forward 00:32:23.000 --> 00:32:25.519 deployed at hundreds of bases around the world. 00:32:25.740 --> 00:32:28.660 They are armed with mechanized weapons, supersonic 00:32:28.660 --> 00:32:31.259 jets, and nuclear submarines. The historical 00:32:31.259 --> 00:32:34.440 irony is staggering. We are trying to use rules 00:32:34.440 --> 00:32:37.279 written for 18th century local militias and wooden 00:32:37.279 --> 00:32:40.160 ships to figure out who is allowed to order secret 00:32:40.160 --> 00:32:42.640 carpet bombings in Southeast Asia. It's no wonder 00:32:42.640 --> 00:32:45.240 the system broke down. Exactly. The Twilight 00:32:45.240 --> 00:32:47.940 Zone became so volatile because of the physical 00:32:47.940 --> 00:32:51.640 destructive reality of the modern military. completely 00:32:51.640 --> 00:32:54.519 outgrew the 18th century paperwork meant to contain 00:32:54.519 --> 00:32:56.859 it. The natural logistical speed bump of having 00:32:56.859 --> 00:32:59.420 to build an army was gone. So Congress tried 00:32:59.420 --> 00:33:02.019 to artificially recreate that speed bump with 00:33:02.019 --> 00:33:05.240 a 60 day statutory clock in the War Powers Resolution. 00:33:05.420 --> 00:33:07.720 That perfectly encapsulates the dilemma. The 00:33:07.720 --> 00:33:09.960 War Powers Resolution was Congress's desperate 00:33:09.960 --> 00:33:13.099 attempt to patch a 1787 document to deal with 00:33:13.099 --> 00:33:15.900 the 20th century superpower. And that is why 00:33:15.900 --> 00:33:18.240 the constitutional debates remain so fierce. 00:33:18.599 --> 00:33:21.509 Let's summarize this incredible journey. We started 00:33:21.509 --> 00:33:24.069 with a simple question about a law passed in 00:33:24.069 --> 00:33:27.890 1973. But what we found is that the War Powers 00:33:27.890 --> 00:33:30.710 Resolution wasn't just a random piece of legislation. 00:33:31.349 --> 00:33:35.369 It was the explosive result of a century of executive 00:33:35.369 --> 00:33:38.119 creep. It was a tension built into the Constitution 00:33:38.119 --> 00:33:41.660 from day one. It was sparked into a modern precedent 00:33:41.660 --> 00:33:46.160 by FDR's pre -WWII maneuvers escalated by the 00:33:46.160 --> 00:33:48.700 undeclared perpetual nature of the Cold War in 00:33:48.700 --> 00:33:51.640 Vietnam and finally detonated by the revelation 00:33:51.640 --> 00:33:54.339 of Nixon's secret falsified bombing campaign 00:33:54.339 --> 00:33:57.440 in Cambodia. It was a moment of absolute institutional 00:33:57.440 --> 00:34:00.920 crisis. Congress drew a line in the sand, marshaled 00:34:00.920 --> 00:34:03.440 a bipartisan coalition led by military veterans, 00:34:04.119 --> 00:34:06.680 and overrode a presidential veto to reclaim their 00:34:06.680 --> 00:34:09.059 constitutional voice. And while it didn't perfectly 00:34:09.059 --> 00:34:11.179 resolve the tension, presidents to this day still 00:34:11.179 --> 00:34:13.440 argue the laws unconstitutional. It permanently 00:34:13.440 --> 00:34:16.039 changed the landscape. It forces the executive 00:34:16.039 --> 00:34:18.260 branch to at least acknowledge the legislative 00:34:18.260 --> 00:34:20.840 branch's role. Every single time you read the 00:34:20.840 --> 00:34:23.360 news today about the United States sending troops 00:34:23.360 --> 00:34:26.539 to a hot spot or launching drone strikes or positioning 00:34:26.539 --> 00:34:28.519 carrier strike groups anywhere in the world, 00:34:29.440 --> 00:34:32.960 the invisible ghost of this 1973 showdown is 00:34:32.960 --> 00:34:36.179 hovering over the decision. Every 48 hour notification 00:34:36.179 --> 00:34:38.420 report a modern president files with Congress 00:34:38.420 --> 00:34:42.280 is a direct echo of Gerald Ford reading that 00:34:42.280 --> 00:34:44.840 telegram and Congress deciding to override the 00:34:44.840 --> 00:34:46.599 veto anyway. The tension between the branches 00:34:46.599 --> 00:34:49.429 is not a flaw in the system. It is the system, 00:34:49.670 --> 00:34:51.889 and the War Powers Resolution is the most visible 00:34:51.889 --> 00:34:54.570 monument to that ongoing struggle balance. Which 00:34:54.570 --> 00:34:57.010 leaves us with a final lingering thought to mull 00:34:57.010 --> 00:34:59.690 over. The founders built a system to control 00:34:59.690 --> 00:35:02.250 war based on the physical reality that raising 00:35:02.250 --> 00:35:05.710 an army would be slow, cumbersome, and require 00:35:05.710 --> 00:35:08.230 constant active permission from the people through 00:35:08.230 --> 00:35:10.769 a two -year funding limit. The two keys in the 00:35:10.769 --> 00:35:12.789 submarine had to be turned together because it 00:35:12.789 --> 00:35:15.369 took time to even build the missile. But today, 00:35:15.670 --> 00:35:18.530 the reality is entirely different. The United 00:35:18.530 --> 00:35:20.909 States maintains a permanent military machine, 00:35:21.250 --> 00:35:23.510 ready to deploy globally in a matter of hours. 00:35:24.010 --> 00:35:26.150 The engines of war are always idling, just waiting 00:35:26.150 --> 00:35:30.639 to be put into gear. Does any piece of paper 00:35:30.639 --> 00:35:34.019 passed in 1973 really have the power to stop 00:35:34.019 --> 00:35:36.559 a commander -in -chief who already has the entire 00:35:36.559 --> 00:35:38.739 modern military right at their fingertips? It's 00:35:38.739 --> 00:35:41.500 a heavy question. Can a 60 -day clock truly restrain 00:35:41.500 --> 00:35:43.599 an office that holds the power to launch a global 00:35:43.599 --> 00:35:46.159 strike before Congress even has time to gavel 00:35:46.159 --> 00:35:48.739 a committee hearing into session? Something to 00:35:48.739 --> 00:35:50.119 think about the next time you hear the words 00:35:50.119 --> 00:35:52.400 commander -in -chief. Thank you for joining us 00:35:52.400 --> 00:35:54.000 on this deep dive. We'll see you next time.