Speech #920007080

I am struck by the fact that some of our gravest policy errors have been attended by the nearunanimous support of the Congress itself and the American people. A unanimity of opinion at any given time is no guarantee that the chosen course of action is correct. Some examples of error might well include the deportation of JapaneseAmericans in 1942. the McCarthyism furor of the early 1950s. the Gulf of Tonkin resolution of August 1964. In reviewing the historical prerogatives of the legislative branch. it is apparent that the framers of the Constitution gave the war power to Congress because of a healthy fear and concern over its misuse by the executive branch. Abraham Lincoln once described it thusly: The provision of the Constitution giving the warmaking power to Congress was dictated. as I understand it. by the following reasons: Kings had always been involving and impoverishing their people in wars. pretending generally. if not always. that the good of the people was the object.