National Emergencies Act Limits Presidential Power
The National Emergencies Act, enacted on this day, was the first effort by Congress to place controls over presidential power to proclaim national emergencies.
The law was another of several post-Watergate reforms designed to limit presidential power.
Unlimited proclamations of national emergency pose a threat to civil liberties by extending special presidential powers long after the original emergency has passed. President Truman’s 1950 national emergency proclamation of December 16, 1950, for example, was still in effect in 1976. The new law forced its termination on this day.
Despite the law, however, between 1976 and the spring of 2021, a total of 70 national emergencies were declared; 37 had expired and 30 were still in effect. Under the law, each emergency has to be renewed annually by the president. Between the years 1917 (World War I) and 1971, a total of only seven national emergencies were declared. The 1976 National Emergencies Act terminated all previous national emergencies.
Learn more: Harry Helms, Inside the Shadow Government: National Emergencies and the Cult of Secrecy (2004)
Read the Congressional Reference Service Report (linked here): Harold Relyea, National Emergency Powers (2006, updated 2020)