Do U.S. Presidents Have the Power to Declare War?

"On August 2nd of that year, North Vietnamese torpedo boats attacked the U.S.S. Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin. Following a much-disputed report of a second attack, President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered a bombing raid and asked Congress to pass a joint resolution of support. Johnson had been angling for such a resolution since the last weeks of 1963 and had begun discussing it in earnest the following February."

"As a senator, Johnson had particularly objected to Harry Truman having sent troops to Korea without seeking support from Congress. If any President tried to get away with that while Johnson was Senate Majority Leader, Valenti said, 'Lyndon Johnson would have torn his balls off.'"

"Pressed by Johnson to prop up the Administration's actions in Vietnam, Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, set to work wrangling his colleagues immediately following the attack on the Maddox. On the Senate floor, he offered reassurance that the measure was exceedingly narrow, but it was also clear that at least some members of the Senate understood the breadth of the resolution."

In August 1964, North Vietnamese torpedo boats attacked the U.S.S. Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin. Following a disputed second attack report, President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered bombing raids and requested congressional approval through a joint resolution. Johnson had sought such authorization since late 1963, motivated by his earlier objections to President Truman's Korean deployment without congressional consent. Senator J. William Fulbright, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, championed the resolution despite its broad implications. While Fulbright characterized the measure as narrow, some senators recognized its expansive scope, establishing a precedent for executive war powers.

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