nato

While the “Great Debate” concluded with the adoption of S.R. 8, the arguments that Secretary of State Dean Acheson made during the Joint Committee Hearing in favor of presidential authority to send troops abroad without congressional approval persist to this day. Acheson made three affirmative arguments in his January 6, 1951 brief referenced and reprinted in the Hearing’s record. First, he argued that the president can send troops abroad without congressional approval pursuant to the Commander-in-Chief power and the power to conduct the foreign relations of the United States. Second, Acheson explained that the president has the power to faithfully execute the laws of the United States, which includes ratified treaties. Under these two arguments, Acheson explained that not only could President Truman unilaterally send troops abroad pursuant to one of these three grants of power, but Congress could not rightfully interfere. Third, the Secretary asserted that President Truman’s actions were not novel and that there was past precedent to support the President’s authority to take such action. Ultimately, however, Acheson made his most resounding argument in his opening statement to the Joint Committee Hearing: by not discussing constitutional authority at all, Acheson implied that President Truman possessed unquestionable authority to send troops to Europe in support of NATO without approval from Congress.