Vietnam War Dbq

November 1973. The Vietnam war was winding down and most of America’s troops were pulled out by this point. The death and destruction were devastating. The death toll would rise to over one million. American forces were returning to hatred all while dealing with horrors only those who have experienced combat will ever understand. There was not only a human cost, but billions of dollars spent and the division it created between the nation’s citizens. Congress passed a resolution in an effort to try and stop the President from entering armed conflicts without the approval of Congress. After a United States naval vessel was allegedly fired on in 1964, Congress approved a resolution giving the President the power to use military force without a

declaration of war. It was known as the Tonkin Resolution. “Congress authorized Johnson “to take all necessary steps, including the use of armed force” to assist the non-Communist regimes in Southeast Asia. The resolution, enacted Aug. 10, would not expire until “the peace and security of the area is reasonably assured.”” (Pusey). The War Powers Act is an unconstitutional check on the President’s power by Congress to help shift blame for the Vietnam War.
Article II, Section I of the Constitution states that “The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.” Article II, Section II says “The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States.” Applying textual analysis to these two sentences, the President of the United States commands the Nation’s armed forces.

That includes where and when to send them. People point to Article I, Section VIII of the Constitution saying that “The Congress shall have Power To declare War” for how the United States should enter conflict. But this is not the case. The Supreme Court itself noted in United States v. Verdugo-Urquidez that, “The United States frequently employs armed forces outside this country – over 200 times in our history – for the protection of American citizens or national security.” Our Nation’s Armed Forces have been sent around the world hundreds of times without a declaration of war. All in an effort to protect the United States and its

citizens.
When the Constitution was written, declarations of war were commonplace.

Military tactics were much different. But as time moved forward, “The types of all out “offensive” wars historically associated with formal declarations of war were outlawed in principle by the 1928 Kellogg-Briand Treaty and again by the UN Charter in 1945. No country in the world has issued a declaration of war in more than 65 years.” (Turner 116). Declaring war is a power that Congress still has today. But to use it is another matter. As nations advanced, weaponry and tactics evolved, and time wore on, the way we fight has changed as well. As the commander-in-chief of the Nation’s Armed Forces, the President has the power to send the military where he would like to defend our Nation’s interests. Yet Congress, according to the War Powers Act, believes, “The President in every possible instance shall consult with Congress before introducing United States Armed Forces in

hostilities.”
Congress passed a resolution, vetoed by President Nixon, with the belief that the President had overstepped his authority by using the armed forces without a declaration of war. But Congress was the one who approved the use of “armed force until the peace and security of the area is reasonably assured” with the Tonkin Resolution. The President overstepped no boundaries.
“The War Powers Resolution was a fraud upon the American people. Voters were angry about the unpopular war, and members of Congress found it in their interest to misrepresent the facts and pretend that they (and their predecessors a decade earlier) had nothing to do with sending U.S. forces to fight and die in what by 1972 was widely seen as an unwinnable quagmire without clear purpose.” (Turner 123)
As Americans, we trust the Office of the President, to serve the nation’s interests. Including to keep our Nation safe from enemies, foreign and domestic. It’s power, delegated by the Constitution, is clear. The War Powers Resolution was nothing more than attempt by Congress to obtain votes and place blame for the Vietnam war elsewhere.