Hess lecturer: Korean War was a pivot point in America’s war policy
By DAVID DUPONT BG Independent News When it comes to establishing the precedent of sending Americans to fight and die in war without the approval of Congress, the buck stops with Harry S. Truman. That was the conclusion of Mary Dudziak, who delivered the Gary R. Hess Lecture in Policy History Monday at Bowling Green State University. Dudziak, a historian and professor of law at Emory University, addressed “The War Powers Pivot: How Congress Lost its Power in Korea,” a chapter from her forthcoming book “Going to War: An American History.” “I had been a fan of Harry Truman,” Dudziak said. Her first book was on civil rights, and on that score Truman was a hero. His stance was “courageous.” He was “a stronger president on civil rights than FDR and those before him.” On June 25, 1950, the North Korean Army stormed across the 38th parallel and overwhelmed South Korean forces. “A monster is coming,” was the response of one Korean girl , Dudziak said. Truman was MIA. The 38th parallel had been the dividing line between the Communist north and the United States’ ally in the south. That division, the speaker said, was considered the “original sin” for what continues to be a festering international dilemma. Even as news of the invasion shot across the international dateline, Truman was in Missouri. Instead of rushing back to Washington, he took time to visit his farm and his brother. The president showed an “unusual amount of deference to the State Department.” The State Department’s response was to go to the then new United Nations to authorize a military response, and bypass Congress. The Constitution gives the authority to declare war to Congress, though the president has some authority as president to use military force. “Korea was the first large scale military operation without a war declaration,” Dudziak said. It wasn’t even called a war at a time, prompting one mother to ask what she was supposed to put on her son’s tombstone. It set a precedent that presidents of both parties have used ever since most recently when President Trump ordered…
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