Stephen Kinzer Quotes

No American President should ever take any option off the table.

I don't think people realize how many decisions the president of the United States makes about military action.

Obama is a tyrant the same way FDR was a tyrant. He has a view of presidential power that states: the government is in control of the country, and the president is in charge of the government. He's taken an imperial view of the presidency.

The administration of George W. Bush, emboldened by the Sept. 11 attacks and the backing of a Republican Congress, has sought to further extend presidential power over national security. Most of the expansion has taken place in secret, making Congressional or judicial supervision particularly difficult.

Generally, the president's power and capital is used to close a deal and not always to negotiate bit by bit.

Power alone is respected and ... in order to gain peace, the United States has no alternative but to wield it

More commonly, states choose to ally themselves with the United States out of a desire for U.S. protection from a regional threat. The United States has long be an attractive ally against intimidating neighbors: it is strong enough to shift a regional balance of power, and it generally does so without conquering its allies in the process.

The respective powers of the President and Congress of the United States, in the case of war with foreign powers are yet undetermined. Perhaps they can never be defined.

[In wartime] there is almost always an overstretch [for power] by the President.

If Mr. Roosevelt can do what he likes without consulting Congress, and we give him our boys, God alone knows what he will do with them.

A man who understands the power of the Presidency, who understands the potential of the Presidency, can get almost anything accomplished.

Never underestimate the power of an American President in his early days.

Allow the President to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion … and you allow him to make war at pleasure. … If today he thinks it necessary to invade Canada to prevent the British from invading us, how could you stop him? You may see no probability he would say to you, “Be silent!, I see if you don’t.”

The word of the president is a national asset not to be trifled with.

The powers conferred by the Constitution upon the Executive enable him to shape the foreign policy of this nation almost independent of the Legislature. A scheming and unscrupulous President can involve the country in serious complications, commit it to an unwise policy, or at least render its foreign diplomacy ridiculous before Congress may have an opportunity to check him.

All recent U.S. presidents have learned the hard way that, despite their immense power, they remain at the mercy of uncontrollable global forces that render their personal views and campaign promises largely irrelevant.

No President is going to say, “I am not going to preempt.” This is simply a reality.

The Declaration of War function is corrupted if the President is the only source of information about the issue…

I don’t know if President (George W.) Bush understood how extreme some of the arguments were about executive power that some people in his administration were making.

The involvement of the government in military adventures always results in the expansion, at least temporarily, of Presidential power.

Putin has put Russia on a path to be a world power with global influence.

Washington's impulsive use of power is a danger to America and to the world.

The only person who counts in the administration is the president of the United States.

There has been so much power concentrated. There is no leash on that power anymore and Americans face the situation that this power is getting momentum with each passing year with each presidency.

I think the primary message to the world is that the United States is going to remain the strongest military power in the world.