Skip to main content

Who's Afraid of the Atomic Bomb?


In Crisis and Command, his sweeping history of presidential prerogatives, John Yoo argues that national security crises inevitably ratchet up the power of the president at the expense of Congress. “War acts on executive power as an accelerant,” he writes, “causing it to burn hotter, brighter and swifter.” In Bomb Power, Garry Wills argues much the same thing, adding that the advent of atomic weapons has made this concentration of power in the White House even greater. “The executive power increased decade by decade,” he writes, “reaching a new high in the 21st century — a continuous story of uni­directional increase.” Where the two authors disagree is on whether this trend should be celebrated or denounced. Yoo finds increased executive power appealing and in accord with the Constitution. Wills finds it appalling and a constitutional travesty.

From The New York Times

Comments

  1. Is it so surprising then that other nations want "the bomb?" Makes me think of that great Peter Sellers romp, The Mouse That Roared. Of course, "the bomb" is a little harder to handle these days.

    ReplyDelete
  2. "Duck and cover" -- I hated those school day drills!

    ReplyDelete
  3. There was a good interview on WNYC with Leonard Lopate and Garry Wills:

    http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/episodes/2010/02/01/segments/149288

    or in itunes podcasts under Leonard Lopate.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wills was interviewed on NPR in SF this a.m., and fielded some calls from folks who tried, but mostly failed, to make points contrary to his (some to his amusement). He remarked mildly to one such caller "It's good to have evidence." Indeed.

    Here's a link: http://www.kqed.org/epArchive/R201002111000

    Several times he made the point that the Pres. is not everybody's commander-in-chief, as in some of the right wingers' criticism of the lack of patriotism of those who don't acknowledge same.

    But that was a cavil compared to his major point about the growth of presidential power following & based on the bomb.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks for the interview links. There were some obvious overlaps but both were very interesting: if you knew what I knew (but can't be allowed to know) then you would know how important it is to stay in a perpetual state of war.

    Here's the NY Times editorial Wills mentions in the SF interview:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/27/opinion/27wills.html

    ReplyDelete
  6. Also interesting to see the overlaps with Madison who believed that Congress was supposed to be the center of power in the government -- which they've sort of given up without protest to the President, particularly when it comes to war.

    ReplyDelete
  7. One thing that has always interested me about the dropping of the bomb on Japan is why they did it, given that we now know that Japan was ready to surrender. The Russian explanation makes sense to me, but Wills downplays that saying there's no evidence of that in the record. Rather, he sees it as a purely political decision to save Truman's presidency. Wow. What a concept when you think about it.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh, yeah, and once again we learn how downright terrifying Dick Cheney is.

    ReplyDelete
  9. When I taught high school US History in NM, each spring semester featured a major debate on whether or not to drop the bomb and what other options would be preferable. Since many of the students were of military families, I was surprised at how often other options were chosen, most frequently the one involving inviting Japanese observers to view the dropping of a demonstration bomb on an uninhabited island, after which an ultimatum would be delivered. Domestic political/party considerations figured little in the discussions.

    ReplyDelete
  10. And I'm only somewhat comforted to know I'm not alone in thinking that Cheney is still very scary indeed.

    ReplyDelete
  11. ALERT: Wills is on BookTV (CSPan2) "After Words" tonight at 6 p.m. (watching now) 9 p.m. & midnight (Pacific time).

    ReplyDelete
  12. I'd be game to read this book if anyone else is interested.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Sure -- I can read that starting next month. (I hope it's written better than the Adams book -- he certainly talks eloquently about it)

    Are others here interested?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

O Pioneers!

It is hard not to think of Nebraska without thinking of its greatest writer.  Here is a marvelous piece by Capote, Remembering Willa Cather . I remember seeing a stage production of O Pioneers! and being deeply moved by its raw emotions.  I had read My Antonia before, and soon found myself hooked, like Capote was by the simple elegance of her prose and the way she was able to evoke so many feelings through her characters.  Much of it came from the fact that she had lived those experiences herself. Her father dragged the family from Virginia to Nebraska in 1883, when it was still a young state, settling in the town of Red Cloud. named after one of the great Oglala chiefs.  Red Cloud was still alive at the time, living on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, in the aftermath of the "Great Sioux Wars" of 1876-77.  I don't know whether Cather took any interest in the famous chief, although it is hard to imagine not.  Upon his death in 1909, he was eulogi

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

  Welcome to this month's reading group selection.  David Von Drehle mentions The Melting Pot , a play by Israel Zangwill, that premiered on Broadway in 1908.  At that time theater was accessible to a broad section of the public, not the exclusive domain it has become over the decades.  Zangwill carried a hopeful message that America was a place where old hatreds and prejudices were pointless, and that in this new country immigrants would find a more open society.  I suppose the reference was more an ironic one for Von Drehle, as he notes the racial and ethnic hatreds were on display everywhere, and at best Zangwill's play helped persons forget for a moment how deep these divides ran.  Nevertheless, "the melting pot" made its way into the American lexicon, even if New York could best be describing as a boiling cauldron in the early twentieth century. Triangle: The Fire That Changed America takes a broad view of events that led up the notorious fire, noting the gro

Colonel

Now with Colonel Roosevelt , the magnum opus is complete. And it deserves to stand as the definitive study of its restless, mutable, ever-boyish, erudite and tirelessly energetic subject. Mr. Morris has addressed the toughest and most frustrating part of Roosevelt’s life with the same care and precision that he brought to the two earlier installments. And if this story of a lifetime is his own life’s work, he has reason to be immensely proud.  -- Janet Maslin -- NY Times . Let the discussion begin!