President Truman Calls U.S. Role in Korean War a “Police Action” – But No Such Concept Exists in International Law
President Truman on this day characterized the U.S. role in the Korean War, which had just broken out of June 25th, as a “police action.”
In fact, the concept of a “police action” does not exist in international law. Additionally, Truman was not the first person to use the term. It was used by a reporter in a question to him at a White House press conference on this day. Truman simply agreed with the reporter’s question.
Truman used the term because Congress had not declared war, and the president and his closest aides were determined not to seek one. This began a long tradition of the U.S. sending military forces into conflicts around the world without a Congressional Declaration of War. World War II was the last military conflict in which Congress approved a Declaration of War (on December 8, 1941, the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor).
During the Vietnam War, opponents of the war argued that it was unconstitutional because there had been no Declaration of War. The state of Massachusetts declared the war unconstitutional on April 2, 1970. And on June 3, 1970, the ACLU called the war unconstitutional.
With respect to Korea, Truman maintained that it was a “police action” under the authority of the United Nations. Historian Peter Irons, however, argues that U.S. entry into the war violated the terms of the Senate ratification of U.S. membership in the United Nations. In the ratification debate, some senators introduced an amendment, which was adopted, requiring a president to obtain Senate approval for any use of U.S. military under the authority of the U.N.
Read: Peter Irons, War Powers: How the Imperial Presidency Hijacked the Constitution (2005)
And read: David Halberstam, The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War (2007)
Learn more about the Korean War here