Is it true that a president is only a "Commander In Chief" during war?

Factual Questions
1

I heard somewhere that the president is only technically the “Commander In Chief” when there is a war on; at all other times he is simply the president. Can someone point me to some documentation about this? Thanks.

2

Bologna. The President is Commander in Chief of the armed forces, period.

I suspect that whatever loon told you this was thinking of the fact that the President needs the authorization of Congress to make war. That’s a far cry from not being CinC; besides, he can start some military actions on his own, and he can always order troop movements and whatnot.

3

The President is always Commander in Chief of the armed forces:

Article II section 2 of the US Constitution.

The Constitution does not place any limit on when or under what circumstances this power applies.

4

There is no specification that a state of War must exist. The Founders may not have expected there to be much of an army to be commander of, during peace, but that’s politics, not Constitutional Authority.

Tris

5

Sorry, I forgot the documentation: The Constitution of the United States of America, Article II, Section 2, part [1]: “The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several States, when called into the service of the United States;”

Also check out The War Powers Act of 1973

6

Rats, if I hadn’t bothered to spell check, I would have been first!