War Powers: How the Imperial Presidency Hijacked the Constitution

Front Cover
Macmillan, 2006 M05 2 - 320 pages
A "compelling and unnerving" assessment of how the Constitution has been distorted to accomodate the drive to empire (The Washington Post)

Concerned about the dangers of unchecked executive power, the Founding Fathers deliberately assigned Congress the sole authority to make war. But the last time Congress did so was in 1941, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor--since then, every president from Harry Truman to George W. Bush has used military force in pursuit of imperial objectives without congressional authorization. In vivid detail, War Powers recounts this story of subversion from above. Drawing on congressional hearings, Supreme Court opinions, media reports, and scholarly accounts, legal historian Peter Irons examines how the Constitution has been stretched, distorted, and violated as presidents usurped a shared, solemn power--eschewing congressional approval and often suspending civil liberties in the process.

An insightful and rousing history, War Powers takes us up to the recent preemptive invasion of Iraq, offering a necessary account of our most pressing contemporary constitutional crisis.

From inside the book

Contents

Introduction
1
The Power of War and Peace
11
Congressional Authority in the New Nation
28
Seizing a Continental Empire
45
The Civil War
66
The Birth of Imperial America
87
The War to End All Wars
102
The Birth of the Imperial Presidency
120
The Imperial
157
Vietnam
180
From the Gulf
205
The American
221
Conclusion
263
Notes
275
Suggested Readings and Sources
287
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

About the author (2006)

A professor of political science at the University of California-San Diego, Peter Irons is the author of numerous books, including "A People's History of the Supreme Court," and editor and narrator of "May It Please the Court." His writings have earned him an uprecedented five Silver Gavel awards from the American Bar Association.

Bibliographic information