War-time Quotes
In every major war in the United States there have been government activities contrary to law, most of which were embarrassments when discovered years later and in retrospect most of which did not help the war effort in any way but undermined the sense of law and order either by not enforcing certain laws (profiteering in WWI or violence against war protesters in the Vietnam War), passing new laws that in retrospect were unjust or unconstitutional (incarceration of Japanese Americans in WWII) or by engaging in illegal activities (illegal spying and detention in the Iraq War.)
The Great Depression was afflicting the nation. Farmers and homeowners who lost jobs (over 35%) or could not sell produce at a decent price could not pay their mortgage debts and homes and farms were being foreclosed in record numbers. Veterans who had saved the nation in WWI and farmers who had fed the population were impoverished and homeless. Rankin appealed to President Herbert Hoover to place a moratorium in bank foreclosures, which not only ruined the individuals but drove down the value of real estate by throwing so much on the market at a time when few had money to buy. Hoover, an otherwise decent man and an excellent administrator, had a blind spot and would not consider having the government solve or alleviate any of these problems as he felt that this would be bad for the national character. By 1932, the voters threw Hoover out and elected Franklin Delano Roosevelt who used the power of government in new and imaginative ways, improved the economy. Profided relief, and prevented a popular revolution and many believed saved capitalism from its own excesses.
He was arguing that normal Constitutional limitations should not apply to the President in wartime.
President George W. Bush, during the War on Terror, asserted the authority to contravene laws passed by Congress and signed by a previous president. He further, argued that he did not have to inform Congress when he ordered steps that broke the existing laws. His position was based on his claim that there were inherent Presidential powers in wartime granted by the Constitution and the Congress could not override the Constitution.
This had been a general, bipartisan principle from WWII through the Gulf War, but in the War on Terrorism, President George W. Bush and his administration deviated from the traditional American view and accused those who were criticizing their counter terrorism of aiding and abetting the enemy and attacked the loyalty and patriotism of their critics.
The Attorney General had taken the position that the Congress could not pass laws in time of war that the President was required to follow if in his judgment as Commander in Chief, the war effort and safety of the nation was at stake—that he could instruct the military to ignore laws passed by Congress. The legal theory of the George W. Bush administration was that the President had “inherent powers” under the Constitution and that Congress could not supersede these by legislation.
