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{
    "localId": "159441220",
    "label": "Memorandum, Powers of the President to Send the Armed Forces Outside the United States (B)",
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    "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"
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    "naId": 159441220,
    "levelOfDescription": "item",
    "productionDates": [
        {
            "day": 16,
            "logicalDate": "1951-02-16",
            "month": 2,
            "year": 1951
        }
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{
    "seq": 3,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/truman/hst-psf/602190/876515/876515-04-03.jpg",
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    "ocrText": "I.\nThe Question.\nIt is contended that the President does not have\nthe power at the present time to send the armed forces abroad\nin the interest of the United States, unless there is prior\nauthorization by the Congress. This view has been widely\nasserted in recent months. (See 97 Cong. Rec. 58ff, Jan. 5,\n1951; 97 Cong. Rec. 531ff, Jan. 22, 1951; S. Res. 8, 82d\nCong. , lst Sess., Jan. 8, 1951; H.J. Res. 9, 82d Cong., lst\nSess., Jan. 3, 1951. )\nIt is the purpose of this memorandum to determine\nwhether the President has the power to employ the armed\nforces of the United States abroad under present circum-\nstances, with particular reference to Korea and the North\nAtlantic Treaty, and to discuss the extent of such power and\nthe objectives for which it may be exercised.\nII.\nSummary of Conclusions.\nA survey of the authorities leads to the following\nconclusions:\nThe President was acting lawfully and constitu-\ntionally in sending troops to Korea in response to the\nresolution of the United Nations. He will be acting law-\nfully and constitutionally if he sends troops to Europe to\nimplement the North Atlantic Treaty.\nThe President's powers in this connection are\nderived from those portions of the Constitution which\nmake him the Commander-in-Chief of the Army and the\nNavy of the United States, which give him special\nresponsibilitics in the field of foreign affairs and\nwhich impose upon him the duty to take care that the\nlaws be faithfully executed. (Const. Art. II, Sect. 2,\ncl. 1; Art. II, Sect: 2, cl. 2; Art. II, Sect. 3.)\nIn addition to these specific grants of authority\nthe courts have recognized that the President, as that\nbranch of the Government vested with the \"Executive power\"\n(Ibid, Art. II, Sect. 1), has certain powers in the field\nof foreign affairs which are not conferred expressly by\nthe Constitution but are derived from the fact that the\nUnited States is a sovereign nation, with rights and"
}