Ask the Scholar

{
    "localId": "159441220",
    "label": "Memorandum, Powers of the President to Send the Armed Forces Outside the United States (B)",
    "core": "doc",
    "dtoType": "document",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/159441220"
}

{
    "id": "159441220",
    "sourceUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/159441220",
    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Memorandum, Powers of the President to Send the Armed Forces Outside the United States (B)",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/159441220",
    "collections": [
        "President's Secretary's Files (Truman Administration)",
        "General Files"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/truman/hst-psf/602190/876515/876515-04-01.jpg",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/truman/hst-psf/602190/876515/876515-04-01.jpg",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/truman/hst-psf/602190/876515/876515-04-01.jpg",
    "imageCount": 44,
    "hasImages": true,
    "source": "import",
    "hasTranscription": false
}

{
    "url": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/159441220",
    "naId": 159441220,
    "levelOfDescription": "item",
    "productionDates": [
        {
            "day": 16,
            "logicalDate": "1951-02-16",
            "month": 2,
            "year": 1951
        }
    ],
    "recordType": "description",
    "ocrSource": "nara-archive"
}

{
    "seq": 21,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/truman/hst-psf/602190/876515/876515-04-21.jpg",
    "mediaId": "39b1dab3d5bbcc04",
    "ocrText": "- 19 -\nelection law, conducted a fair election, and turned that\ngovernment over to the officers elected under the Constitution\nof Cuba. There were some mutterings by Senators that under\nthe Platt Amendment, Congress only could decide to take action.\nHowever, the matter never reached the adoption of a resolution.\nCongress appropriated the money needed to meet the extraordin-\nary military and naval expenditures required, and recognized\nthe provisional government in Cuba in such a way as to make\nthe course taken a precedent. \" (Taft, op. cit., p. 88.)\nC. Under the treaty with Colombia\nAnother example is offered by President Cleveland's\nintervention in Panama in 1885. In a treaty of 1846 the govern-\nment of Colombia (then New Granada) had guaranteed to the United\nStates that the right of way across the isthmus of Panama should\nbe open and free, and the United States in return had guaranteed\nto protect the neutrality of the isthmus and the sovereignty of\nColombia over it. (Treaties, etc. Senate Doc. No. 357, 6lst\nCong. 2nd sess. , vol. 1, p. 312.) Civil war broke out in\nColombia, and Clevoland sent troops to keep open the passage\nacross the isthmus. There was no Congressional authorization\nfor this act. President Cleveland explained to Congress that\nit was taken under the treaty and \"in aid of the sovercignty\nof Colombia. \" (Message to Congress, Dec. 8, 1885. Richardson,\nop. cit. VIII, (p. 326).\nIn 1901, , 1902, and 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt\nsent troops to Panama to protect this same treaty right.\nd. Treaty Need Not Be Explicit\nIt should be noted that neither of these treaties\nby its terms explicitly required the United States to send\ntroops. Nevertholess, the President, in his discretion, found\nthat the purposes of the treaty could best be served, in the\nparticular circunstances confronting him, by sending troops.\nIn the international field, the President has the duty to carry\nout not only the letter but the spirit of the nation's treaties.\nOtherwise, the foreign policy of the United States is likely\nto\nbe frustrated.\nThe Supreme Court in the urtis-Wright case (299 U. S.\n304) clearly laid down these principles of broad interpretation\nwith respect to the exercise of Presidential authority in foreign\naffairs under federal statutes. It said:"
}