Presidents of War summary

Thomas Jefferson’s devotion to peace was the exception rather than the rule. Had James Madison – Jefferson’s successor – showed similar restraint and political deftness, the War of 1812 against the British might’ve been avoided. 

But the United States did have legitimate grievances – and they’re related to Britain’s struggle against France during the Napoleonic Wars.

With the 1845 election of James Polk, we reach the United States’ most shameful wartime episode. Many wartime leaders have made deplorable decisions, but none had worse motives than President Polk. 

That’s because Polk – a veteran politician from Tennessee – manufactured a war with Mexico for the sole purpose of expanding US territory. 

When Abraham Lincoln – the fervent opponent of slavery – was elected president in 1861, the nation was plunged into chaos. Seven southern states, whose economies were reliant on huge slave plantations, seceded from Washington and declared a Confederate States of America.

Lincoln tried to resolve the dispute diplomatically – even promising not to interfere with slavery in southern states. He vowed no military action unless it was forced on the government. But he also said that the Confederacy was invalid and wouldn’t be politically recognized. 

In 1895, Cuba was a reluctant colony of the Spanish Empire. That year, a rebellion broke out on the island, and its inhabitants waged a guerrilla war against Spanish troops. To crush the revolt, Spanish General Valeriano “Butcher” Weyler forced one-third of Cubans into squalid, disease-ridden concentration camps. In them, around 25 percent of the population died.

Many Americans – citizens and politicians alike – watched these horrors unfold on their doorstep with disgust. Outspoken newspapers and aggressive politicians clamored for American military intervention. 

When World War One broke out in Europe in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson committed himself to a policy of neutrality. Even when a German submarine sank the British Lusitania, killing 128 Americans, Wilson promoted peace and dispassionate thinking, warning politicians and newspapermen against rash statements. 

But as the war progressed, American civilian casualties grew. In August 1915, Germany sank a British passenger ship, killing two Americans. In March 1916 a similar event occurred, injuring four more. By now, the popular mood inside America was pro-British, and much of the press and political elite favored entering the war. 

December 7, 1941, is a day that, in then-President Roosevelt’s words, “will live in infamy.” 

When the neutral United States ceased its much-needed oil exports to Japan in response to their World War Two aggression in Asia, the Japanese military launched a surprise assault on the American fleet anchored in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. It was devastating: Four battleships were sunk, and 4,403 Americans died. 

The Cold War turned extremely hot on June 25, 1950, when the communist North Korean army invaded capitalist South Korea. Declaring the North Korean invasion an act of aggression, the United Nations (UN) formed the UN Command and dispatched a force to defend the South. 

While President Truman didn’t want this war, he could have done much more to avoid it. 

On August 2, 1964, Washington received a report that North Vietnamese forces had fired on the USS Maddox in the Tonkin Gulf. At the time, the United States had a military presence in Vietnam, but only in an advisory role to the South Vietnamese government. Things were about to change. 

On August 4, Defense Secretary Robert McNamara informed the president of a second attack on the Maddox. But as conflicting military reports trickled through to Johnson and his advisers, it became uncertain whether a second attack had taken place. 

When American giants like George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and James Madison sat down in Philadelphia in 1787 to write the American Constitution, they envisaged a country free from the oppressive power of European monarchs. They understood that these authoritarian leaders had often wielded their power to launch destructive wars – to expand their own power, steal resources and territory, or increase their regime’s popularity. 

To counter this, the Founding Fathers stated in the Constitution that only Congress – and not the president – could declare war. Each time Congress declared war, a majority of votes in both the Senate and House of Representatives would be required. In this way, it was hoped that the decision to go to war wouldn’t rest on the shoulders of a single person.