Philip Pro Lecture in Legal History:

"The War Powers Pivot: How Congress Lost its Power in Korea"

by Mary L. Dudziak 

Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law

Often called the “forgotten war,” the Korean War played a crucial role in undermining political restraints on presidential war power. It was the first large overseas war without a war declaration, and has been relied on ever since as authority for unilateral presidential war power. This lecture will closely examine the Truman Administration actions that cut Congress out of the process. It will also illustrate the on-the-ground consequences in Korea of an action the president insisted was not a “war” but a “police action.”