I’ll counter-nit. The Spanish-American War, which I believe you’re referring to was from April 25, 1898 to December 10, 1898. The United States fought against guerillas in the Phillipines between 1899 and 1902, and laded toops in Cuba on September 29, 1906 to impose peace after election “discrepencies.” They remained there until 1909.
Does anyone know exactly what happens when Congress makes an official declaration of war? I poked around on-line, but couldn’t find anything. I’ve seen a lot of intelligent speculation here, but not much solid.
Hal
Y’all seem to be forgetting The War on Poverty, and The War on Drugs , and The War on Terror.
If you don’t call something “a war”, nobody can say, “You lost the war.”
::sigh:: Let’s all repeat after me: Congress never passed legislation to specifically authorize the use of military force during the Korean War.
As for the OP, I’ll quote a post from a few months ago:
"Congress has generally not taken to declaring war (as opposed to authorizing military force) for several reasons. I quote from a report from the Congressional Research Service (I have it on paper, sorry no link):
'At one time a declaration was deemed a necessary legal prerequisite to a war and was also thought to terminate diplomatic and commercial relations and most treaties between the combatants. But in the modern era the international legal consequences of declarations have become less determinate; and in fact declarations have rarely been issued since World War II. Perhaps most important, neither a declaration nor an authorization is necessary to trigger application of the laws of war, such as the Hague and Geneva Conventions; for that the fact of armed conflict is the controlling circumstance.
‘With respect to domestic law, a declaration of war automatically brings into effect numerous standby authorities conferring special powers on the President with respect to the military, foreign trade, transportation, communications, manufacturing, enemy aliens, etc. In contrast, no standby authorities appear to be triggered automatically by an authorization for the use of force.’
A few examples, also quoting from the report: ‘A declaration triggers the Alien Enemy Act, which gives the President substantial discretionary authority over nationals of an enemy state who are in the U.S. It activates special authorities to use electronic surveillance for purposes of gathering foreign intelligence information without court order under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. It automatically extends enlistments in the Armed Forces until the end of the war, makes the Coast Guard part of the Navy, gives the President substanital discretion over the appointment and reappointment of commanders, and allows the military priority use of the natural resources on the public lands and the continental shelf.’
There’s about 117 more pages of this stuff, but I think you should get the idea why Congress does not go around declaring war on everyone.
"If you don’t call something ‘a war’, nobody can say, ‘You lost the war.’ " --gluteus maximus
Right on the money! The old Republican carping about how Harry Truman “lost” China was one of the things that drove LBJ’s decision-making vis-a-vis Viet Nam–he didn’t want to be the guy who “lost” Viet Nam. (So Robert Dalleck in his book on LBJ’s presidency).