Impeachment Hearings: House Judiciary Committee, July 30, 1974 (2/2)
Impeachment Hearings: House Judiciary Committee, July 30, 1974 (2/2)
Impeachment Hearings. House Judiciary Committee, July 30, 1974. Cambodia Bombing Article of Impeachment
Impeachment Hearings: House Judiciary Committee, July 30, 1974 (2/2)
Harold D. Donohue (D - Massachusetts). The time of the gentleman from Virginia has expired. The Chair now recognizes the gentleman from California, Mr. Waldie. Jerome R. Waldie (D - California). Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Harold D. Donohue (D - Massachusetts). Six minutes and 15 seconds. Jerome R. Waldie (D - California). Mr. Chairman, it seems to me in this process of impeachment what we ultimately are seeking to do is a constitutional process where at the conclusion, we will have redefined the power of the President. And we will in that redefinition hopefully have limited that power because if we impeach we will have come up with a conclusion that the power has been abused and that there has been too much power accumulated in the executive branch. If that is so, it would just seem extraordinarily unusual for this committee and the Congress in their examination, a historical examination, really the first of the Presidential power to ignore the exercise of the war power and to determine if in fact the war Power has not been abused and if the President has not accumulated too much authority in that regard.
Impeachment Hearings: House Judiciary Committee, July 30, 1974 (2/2)
Jerome R. Waldie (D - California). Now, in this process, where I am most troubled, and that troublesome aspect has just occurred to me of late in the proceedings. It is difficult to separate Richard Nixon the man, from Richard Nixon, the occupant of the executive branch, whose powers are being limited and hopefully circumscribed. And in this instance particularly it s difficult, because I am a believer in the lesson of the Pentagon Papers and if that lesson bad any message to it at all, it was that the war power as exercised by most modern Presidents has been abused. And it was abused terribly by a President of my own party, the predecessors of this President, in the very areas in which we are examining exercise of this war power by this President. That is in deception and concealment.
Impeachment Hearings: House Judiciary Committee, July 30, 1974 (2/2)
Jerome R. Waldie (D - California). Now, if President Johnson's exercise of the war power had not been characterized essentially by the deception and concealment that was revealed in the Pentagon Papers, it is entirely probable that had the country known what truly was the information upon which policy was being made in Southeast Asia that there would have been no way that President Nixon would have, been presented with the tragedy of Vietnam that was presented to him when President Johnson left office. But the fact of the matter is the abuse of the war power by President Johnson in deception and concealment created the problem that President Nixon sought to extricate the country from. But in his exercise of the war power in that extrication process, he too resorted to deception and concealment.
Impeachment Hearings: House Judiciary Committee, July 30, 1974 (2/2)
Jerome R. Waldie (D - California). Now, if you are only examining not as Richard Nixon and not as Lyndon Johnson but as the Congress determining whether a redefinition of the power of the Executive and in this particular power the War Power ought to be undertaken, I think you have to conclude that where deception and concealment is utilized in order to acquire support for a war policy, we ought to draw a line and say in the future, as we redefine this power of the Executive, deception and concealment to obtain support from the American People will not be tolerated. And if that is the case, clearly the deception and concealment of this President in this instance designed to obtain support from the American People which would not have been forthcoming perhaps had he in fact reported to them the extent of the bombing of Cambodia is not acceptable.
Impeachment Hearings: House Judiciary Committee, July 30, 1974 (2/2)
Jerome R. Waldie (D - California). Now, if you can assume that had the President reported to the American people what he was doing and the reasons for him having done so they would have supported it, then you have to ask yourself this question, why did he not then report it? I personally am inclined to believe they may very well have supported that effort. The President says he did not report it because Prince Sihanouk would not have permitted the bombing to continue if it had been known to the American people. Now, that is deception and concealment. That is an abuse of the war power. And as we redefine the powers of the Executive in the hope that we limit those powers, if there is ever a power that ought to be limited, it is the war power and in this very reasonable and minor area, no President in the future in the exercise of the War Power shall be permitted to resort to deception and concealment in terms of his responsibility and duty and obligation in dealing with the American people. I yield to Mr. Conyers the balance of my time.