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National Security and Foreign Policy
65 posts, newest first (page 3 of 3).
How America Built 2,710 Liberty Ships and Why It Could Not Do So TodayHenry Kaiser's wartime yards launched Liberty ships in days, and the story shows an industrial base is a weapon and why rebuilding ours is a conservative cause. Admiral Rickover Built the Navy That Made Nuclear Deterrence SurvivableHyman Rickover's insistence on standards produced the Nautilus, a nuclear navy and the submarines that made deterrence survivable. Mutual Assured Destruction Versus Missile Defense, the Debate Never EndedConservatives call leaving Americans deliberately undefended against missiles a moral failure; this post compares the doctrines and argues for defense. Deterrence Fails When an Enemy Thinks You Will Not Pay the PriceDeterrence is capability multiplied by credibility, and wars start when an adversary doubts the second term, as Korea, the Falklands and Kuwait show. The Senate Killed the Versailles Treaty and Conservatives Should Know WhyHenry Cabot Lodge's 1919 reservations were a constitutional argument about Article X and Congress's war power, not mere isolationism. Commander in Chief Means Less Than Presidents Claim and More Than Critics SayThe Commander in Chief Clause gives a president command of forces Congress raises and the power to repel attacks, but not a general power to start wars. Letters of Marque Are Still in the Constitution and Here Is Why They MatterA forgotten clause in Article I, Section 8 proves the Framers wanted Congress, not the president, to decide when America uses force, even on a small scale. How Congress Ended a War with the Purse, the Case-Church Story of 1973The Case-Church Amendment of June 1973 cut off funds for combat in Indochina. It proves the spending power is a war power, and raises a hard question. Sixty Words Passed in 2001 Still Carry America's Wars, and That Is a ProblemThe September 2001 war authorization was written for the 9/11 plotters and has been stretched far past them. The text, the votes, and the case for a new law. Boumediene v. Bush and the Day Habeas Corpus Reached Guantanamo BayThe 2008 five-to-four decision gave enemy detainees habeas review, and conservatives said it put judges in charge of a war. The text, dissents, aftermath. The Prize Cases of 1863 and How Lincoln Fought a War Before Congress MetThe Court's 5-4 decision upholding Lincoln's blockade defined when a president may meet an attack without waiting for Congress, and where that power stops. Youngstown Sheet and Tube Is the Case That Tells a President No in WartimeIn 1952 the Court stopped Truman from seizing the steel mills during the Korean War, and Justice Jackson's three zones became the map for war power disputes. What Washington's Farewell Address Really Said About Foreign EntanglementsWashington warned against passionate attachments and permanent alliances, not all engagement. The exact words, the fights behind them, and a fair test for NATO. John Quincy Adams Said America Does Not Go Abroad Hunting for MonstersAdams's Fourth of July address of 1821 is the founding text of the restraint tradition. The passage, its context, and how hawks and restrainers use it. Eisenhower's Farewell Warned About More Than the Military-Industrial ComplexEveryone quotes three words from the January 1961 farewell address. Read the whole speech: balance, debt, and an elite of experts were warnings too. Reagan at Westminster in 1982 Predicted the Soviet Collapse Out LoudIn June 1982 Reagan told Parliament that Marxism-Leninism was headed for the ash heap of history. The passages, the plan, and what came by 1991. NSC-68 and the 1950 Memo That Told America the Price of Staying FreeA 1950 policy paper argued that containment without real military power was a bluff, and the argument still holds. What it said, what it cost, who objected.
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