Essay On Declaration Of War

Words: 1068
Pages: 5

What happened to the American Declaration of War? The United States has not officially declared war since WWII, but there has been plenty of military conflicts that that the U.S has been involved in that most would categorize as war. Some wars since WWII include the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the War in Afghanistan, and the Iraq War, yet there has been no formal declaration of war for any one of these wars. The United States needs to follow formal Constitutional process when declaring war in order to avoid war when possible, encourage the support of wars, and to maximize the success of the wars necessary. Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 of the Constitution states that Congress shall have the power to declare war. Formal Constitutional process when engaging in war would be to …show more content…
When Johnson addressed Congress, he used the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, which was in his eyes an act of war, and all of the other Vietnam War precedents to seek congressional approval for a resolution. Although, the likelihood that he would have gotten congressional approval for a declaration of war is very low, especially with the legitimacy of the Gulf of Tonkin Incident being in question. Clearly none of the Vietnam War precedents warranted war, nor a declaration of one, but Congress did not see this as a declaration of war. As Friedman said, shouldn't Congress get to know completely what they’re voting for? What if the Vietnam War, one of the most controversial, unpopular, and arguably unjustified wars in history, could have been stopped by Johnson following our own Constitution? Maybe the Vietnam War was inevitable with such a fear of communism at the time and the U.S’ continuous interference in Vietnam only growing, but what if the protests in the streets could have stopped and the countless American lives could have been saved? Is it only then when our own rules and laws stemming from our own Constitution can be