Chief Diplomat: Presidents and the Constitution
The Constitution's principle of separation of powers is reflected in the President's power to make treaties with the advice and consent of the Senate. The Constitution goes on to require that two-thirds of Senators present must approve a treaty before it can be ratified. As "Chief Diplomat" for the nation, the President represents the United States to other countries, and directs our foreign policy. Various Presidents in our history have approached the concept of "advice and consent" differently, and have had varying degrees of success at persuading Senators of the wisdom of the treaties they have negotiated. George Washington was aware that his actions would set a precedent as to the meaning of the term "advice and consent." Many of his decisions with respect to Jay's Treaty also helped clearly define the separation of powers. Woodrow Wilson all but rejected the Senate's advice of the Treaty of Versailles, and for the first time in American history, the Senate rejected a peace treaty. Perhaps learning from history, Jimmy Carter took a different and more accommodating approach, winning ratification of the initially unpopular Panama Canal Treaties.
0:00 [Music] [Music] the term advice and consent appears in the part of the Constitution that makes the president the nation’s Chief Diplomat Article 2 Section 2 paragraph 2
0:24 it provides that the president has authority to make treaties by seeking the Senate’s advice and those treaties become binding if approved by 2/3 of the Senate since the 1790s the Senate has approved more than 1500 treaties and rejected only 20 Americans tend to take advice and
0:45 consent for granted but it has been the source of debate throughout our history while the founders were suspicious of executive power in general they largely agreed that a strong executive was needed to advance the international interests of the new nation their belief that George Washington would be the first President helped the founders agree that the President should
1:06 take the initiative in negotiating treaties subject to the Senate’s approval Washington did not need to wait long to try out his constitutional power as Chief Diplomat when Britain and France went to war in 1793 he issued a neutrality proclamation because he knew it would be in America’s best interest not to be drawn into this
1:28 foreign conflict he made this sweeping announcement without consulting the Senate yet the Senate did not try to block Washington’s Proclamation tension between executive and legislative branches regarding Foreign Affairs has continued ever since by 1794 Washington realized that the United
1:49 States needed a new treaty with Great Britain the British had failed to live up to some of their commitments from the end of the American Revolution Washington sent John J to England to negotiate a treaty that would better protect America’s interests while the British agreed to some of the American demands they refused to address America’s biggest concerns regarding
2:11 trading rights in the Caribbean believing this treaty was the best they could hope for from Great Britain at the time the Senate voted to ratify it when the treaty’s terms were made public protests broke out all over the country the Uproar lasted for 6 weeks the time between the treaty’s publication and Washington’s signing of it the
2:32 protests then quickly faded Americans thought very highly of their first president the most famous instance of Senate rejection of a treaty took place after World War I President woodro Wilson’s handling of the 14 points and Treaty of versailes met with Fierce opposition in the Senate President
2:53 Wilson’s foe Senator Henry kabat Lodge was the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Lodge and others were deeply opposed to the US joining the League of Nations as provided in the treaty they saw membership in such an international organization as a threat to American sovereignty Wilson did not
3:13 seek or accept the Senate’s advice on the treaty he refused to consider Lodge’s reservations the Treaty of versailes was rejected in three different votes of the Senate marking the first time in US history that the Senate rejected a peace treaty perhaps learning from history President Jimmy Carter took a different approach
3:35 to win Senate approval of an unpopular treaty by the 1960s many people in Latin America objected to what they saw as American imperialism in the region the main symbol of that imperialism was the Panama Canal which had been built by the United States in the early 1900s Carter believed it would be better
3:55 to cooperate with a friendly Panama government than for the now to become what he called an American Garrison amid hostile surroundings he began negotiations in 1977 toward two new treaties to gradually turn the canal over to Panama opinion ran strongly against the new
4:16 agreements both in the Senate and in the United States as a whole Carter embarked on a massive campaign to explain the benefits of the treaties to the public he sent a task force across the country to make more than5 100 appearances he also exercised a very personal role in persuading Senators to
4:36 lend their support throughout the Senate debate Carter personally tracked the progress of the treaties talking daily with Senators answering questions and agreeing to various Senate modifications though both negative public opinion and Senate objection originally stood in his way Jimmy Carter was able to achieve the 2third majority
4:58 necessary Senate ratification of the Panama Canal treaties of 1977 as these events show a president is wise to exercise his role as Chief Diplomat carefully balancing competing interests in a manner that Faithfully executes the powers vested in him under Article 2
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