Crisis and Command: A History of Executive Power from George Washington to George W. Bush by John Yoo Page A
Authors: John Yoo
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as part of a unitary executive branch, with himself at the top; and fought to keep the internal deliberations of his advisers confidential.
Washington believed he had to interpret the Constitution independently in executing his powers, whether by signing proposed bills or implementing those on the books. When it came time to enforce national laws and policies, Washington led the troops personally to demonstrate the energy and authority of the new government. In foreign affairs, Washington read the Constitution to give him the executive's traditional leading role, including the interpretation of treaties and international law, the deployment of military force, and the conduct of diplomatic relations. He moved forcefully to keep the nation out of the European wars and to reach a settlement with Great Britain.
Washington demonstrated that a President could not succeed without his constitutional powers. The Framers did not account for, and were openly hostile to, political parties. They believed that a President should stand above parties, which were seen as temporary factions assembling against the national interest. 106 From the very beginning, Washington saw his office as advancing a set of policies, a program, which required the cooperation of the executive and legislative branches. Washington's administration devised the national banking system and the assumption of debts. It developed the policy of neutrality in the wars between Great Britain and France and set the nation on a hostile military course with the Indians. Washington understood the Presidency as giving him, not Congress, the initiative in defining foreign and domestic security policy.
Institutional independence included recognition of the other branches' prerogatives. Only the legislature could create the bank, approve the Jay Treaty, or fund the troops on the frontier. While Washington was dismayed at the open partisanship of the Jeffersonian opposition, his administration began the first experiments in the coordination of executive and legislative branches through a common political party. Washington would even recognize perhaps the ultimate limitation on the Presidency. By stepping down after two terms, Washington introduced a republican rotation in office, a precedent unbroken until Franklin D. Roosevelt, which proved to be a political bulwark against executive tyranny. By combining constitutional independence with constitutional self-control, Washington set the example of a republican executive that his successors would follow.
WARTIME CIVIL LIBERTIES
IT IS COMMONPLACE today to read the argument that war reduces civil liberties too much. We can gain a useful perspective on the question by examining Roosevelt's wartime measures. FDR responded to the devastating Pearl Harbor attack with domestic policies, such as the use of military commissions, the internment of Japanese-Americans, and the widespread use of electronic surveillance. As in the Civil War, the federal courts deferred to the political branches until the war ended, and Congress went along with the President for the most part.
CONCLUSIONS
WAR AND EMERGENCY demand that Presidents exercise their constitutional powers far more broadly than in peacetime. That was nowhere more true than under President Franklin Roosevelt. FDR tackled the Great Depression by treating it as a domestic emergency that called for the centralization of power in the federal government and the Presidency. But he could not act alone, because the Constitution gives Congress the authority to regulate the economy and create the federal agencies. Under Roosevelt's direction, Congress enacted sweeping legislation vesting almost complete power over industry and agriculture in the executive branch, which repeatedly sought to centralize power over the plethora of New Deal agencies in the Presidency.
Roosevelt responded to the looming threat of fascism by bringing the United States into World War II, and he made all the
Washington believed he had to interpret the Constitution independently in executing his powers, whether by signing proposed bills or implementing those on the books. When it came time to enforce national laws and policies, Washington led the troops personally to demonstrate the energy and authority of the new government. In foreign affairs, Washington read the Constitution to give him the executive's traditional leading role, including the interpretation of treaties and international law, the deployment of military force, and the conduct of diplomatic relations. He moved forcefully to keep the nation out of the European wars and to reach a settlement with Great Britain.
Washington demonstrated that a President could not succeed without his constitutional powers. The Framers did not account for, and were openly hostile to, political parties. They believed that a President should stand above parties, which were seen as temporary factions assembling against the national interest. 106 From the very beginning, Washington saw his office as advancing a set of policies, a program, which required the cooperation of the executive and legislative branches. Washington's administration devised the national banking system and the assumption of debts. It developed the policy of neutrality in the wars between Great Britain and France and set the nation on a hostile military course with the Indians. Washington understood the Presidency as giving him, not Congress, the initiative in defining foreign and domestic security policy.
Institutional independence included recognition of the other branches' prerogatives. Only the legislature could create the bank, approve the Jay Treaty, or fund the troops on the frontier. While Washington was dismayed at the open partisanship of the Jeffersonian opposition, his administration began the first experiments in the coordination of executive and legislative branches through a common political party. Washington would even recognize perhaps the ultimate limitation on the Presidency. By stepping down after two terms, Washington introduced a republican rotation in office, a precedent unbroken until Franklin D. Roosevelt, which proved to be a political bulwark against executive tyranny. By combining constitutional independence with constitutional self-control, Washington set the example of a republican executive that his successors would follow.
WARTIME CIVIL LIBERTIES
IT IS COMMONPLACE today to read the argument that war reduces civil liberties too much. We can gain a useful perspective on the question by examining Roosevelt's wartime measures. FDR responded to the devastating Pearl Harbor attack with domestic policies, such as the use of military commissions, the internment of Japanese-Americans, and the widespread use of electronic surveillance. As in the Civil War, the federal courts deferred to the political branches until the war ended, and Congress went along with the President for the most part.
CONCLUSIONS
WAR AND EMERGENCY demand that Presidents exercise their constitutional powers far more broadly than in peacetime. That was nowhere more true than under President Franklin Roosevelt. FDR tackled the Great Depression by treating it as a domestic emergency that called for the centralization of power in the federal government and the Presidency. But he could not act alone, because the Constitution gives Congress the authority to regulate the economy and create the federal agencies. Under Roosevelt's direction, Congress enacted sweeping legislation vesting almost complete power over industry and agriculture in the executive branch, which repeatedly sought to centralize power over the plethora of New Deal agencies in the Presidency.
Roosevelt responded to the looming threat of fascism by bringing the United States into World War II, and he made all the
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