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Theodore Roosevelt's acquisition of the Panama Canal Zone
The Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty was signed and granted the US permanent possession of the Panama Canal Zone. By doing so, TR took lead in developing the international power of the US, increasing the executive power of the president to some extent. -
Woodrow Wilson's decision to enter WWI
WW requested a declaration of war against Germany from Congress. He claimed that this was “a war to end all wars” and intervention would “make the world safe for democracy. WWI allowed Wilson to take an executive role in foreign affairs. -
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Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal
After the Great Depression and WWII, FDR went through a series of reformations called the New Deal. This program regulated the economy giving FDR power, and the war required him to lead the country in international affairs. -
Cold War Begins
The cold war was a political rivalry between two world superpowers: USA and USSR. The constant fear brought forward by the war increased the country’s reliance on the president. -
Truman enters the Korean Conflict
Harry S Truman entered the Korean conflict without needing the approval of Congress. Truman described the deployment of forces as an action in conjunction with the UN. This set the precedent that the president may take the country to war without a Congressional declaration. -
Eisenhower and the Red Scare
In 1954, Eisenhower withhold any internal documents and blocked officials from giving testimony to other branches of government in an attempt to protect government files from Sen. McCarthy. Eisenhower asserted this as a right of the executive branch. -
Bay of Pigs Invasion
JFK allowed 1400 Cuban exiles trained and equipped by the CA to invade Cuba at the Bay of Pigs. This was considered to be a big expansion of the president’s power. Although Kennedy failed to invade Cuba, his approval ratings still increased, allowing him to exercise his expanded power more freely. -
Soviets remove missiles from Cuba while the US removes missiles from Italy and Turkey.
This strengthened Kennedy’s and the public’s affinity for unilateral executive control of foreign policy -
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
The issue of the Vietnam War fell into LBJ’s hands. He has assumed like other presidents, that the outcome of war and peace had become the president’s decision. The resolution allowed Johnson to take any measure necessary to protect the US without Congress having to formally declare war.