Ludlow Amendment

The Ludlow Amendment was a proposed amendment to the Constitution of the United States which called for a national referendum on any declaration of war by Congress, except in cases when the United States had been attacked first. H.J. Res. 167, 74th Congress. Other peace resolutions included H.J. Res. 89 and H.J. Res. 158, 74th Congress.cite journal
first =Ralph M.
last =Goldman
authorlink =
coauthors =
year = 1950
month =Summer
title =The Advisory Referendum in America
journal =The Public Opinion Quarterly
volume =14
issue =2
pages =303–315
id =
url =http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0033-362X%28195022%2914%3A2%3C303%3ATARIA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-0
doi =10.1086/266186 ] cite book
last =Powaski
first =Ronald E.
authorlink =
coauthors =
year =1991
title =Toward an Entangling Alliance: American Isolationism, Internationalism and Europe, 1901-1950
publisher =
location =
id =Page 74] Representative Louis Ludlow (D-Indiana) introduced the amendment several times between 1935 and 1940. Supporters argued that ordinary people, who were called upon to fight and die during wartime, should have a direct vote on their country's involvement in military conflicts.cite book
last = Sherry
first =Michael S.
authorlink =
coauthors =
year =1997
title =In the Shadow of War: The United States Since the 1930's
publisher =Yale University Press
location =
isbn =0300072635 Page 26] cite book
last =Rhodes
first =Benjamin D.
authorlink =
coauthors =
year = 2001
title = United States Foreign Policy in the Interwar Period, 1918-1941: The Golden Age of American Diplomatic and Military Complacency
publisher =Praeger/Greenwood
location =
isbn =0275948250 Page 151]

Background

History of concept

The idea of a national referendum on any declaration of war was first suggested in 1914, and was supported by such notable politicians as William Jennings Bryan and Robert M. La Follette, Sr. cite book
last =Wiebe
first =Robert H.
authorlink =
coauthors =
year =1995
title =Self-rule: Cultural History of American Democracy
publisher =University of Chicago
location =
isbn =0226895629 Page 208] In the 1924 election campaign, both the Democratic and Progressive party platforms endorsed the idea of a popular vote on war, "except in case of actual attack" (Democrats) or "except in case of actual invasion" (Progressives). cite book
last =Schlesinger
first =Arthur Meier
authorlink =
coauthors =Arthur Meier Schlesinger, Jr.
year =2004
title =The Imperial Presidency By,
publisher =Houghton Mifflin Books
location =
isbn =0618420010 Page 97-98]

Public support and opposition

Public support for the amendment was very robust through the 1930s, a period when isolationism was the prevailing mood in the United States, but began to erode as the situation in Europe deteriorated at the end of the decade. A Gallup survey in September 1935 showed that 75% of Americans supported the amendment; the approval rate was 71% in 1936, and 73% in 1937. In January 1938, when it was voted on in Congress, 68% of the US population still supported the amendment. But by March 1939, support had dropped to 61%; and six months later, following the German invasion of Poland, support for the amendment dropped to 51%. In addition, "Good Housekeeping" magazine, the National Council for Prevention of War, and Roger Nash Baldwin, president of the ACLU, endorsed the amendment. cite book
last =Ole R.
first =Holsti
authorlink =
coauthors =
year =2004
title =Public Opinion and American Foreign Policy By
publisher =University of Michigan
location =
isbn =0472030116 Page 17-18] cite book
last = Robert C.
first =Cottrell
authorlink =
coauthors =
year =
title =Roger Nash Baldwin and the American Civil Liberties Union
publisher =
location =
id =Page 236] cite journal
first =Charles
last =Chatfield
authorlink =
coauthors =
year =1969
month =May
title =Pacifists and Their Publics: The Politics of a Peace Movement
journal =Midwest Journal of Political Science
volume =13
issue =2
pages =298
id =
url =
doi =10.2307/2110180 ]

Others also opposed the amendment. Michigan Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg, who was normally an isolationist, argued that the amendment "would be as sensible to require a town meeting before permitting the fire department to face a blaze". Author Walter Lippmann argued that the amendment would make "preventive diplomacy" impossible and would insure "that finally, when the provocation has become intolerable, there would be no remedy except total war fought when we were at the greatest possible disadvantage." Protestant theologian Reinhold Niebuhr opposed the amendment stating that war was a policy area where pure democracy was most . cite journal
first =Gary B.
last =Bullert
authorlink =
coauthors =
year =2002
month =March 22
title =Reinhold Niebuhr and the Christian century: World War II and the eclipse of the social gospel
journal =Journal of Church and State
volume = 44
issue =2
pages =271
id =ISSN: 0021-969X
url = ]

Panay incident and 1938 congressional vote

Congressional debate on the amendment was prompted by the December 12 1937 bombing of the USS "Panay" by Japanese warplanes. The "Panay", a gunboat, was anchored in the Yangtze River near Nanjing, China and flying the American flag. President Franklin D. Roosevelt discussed with his cabinet and the military high command the possibility of economic or military retaliation against Japan. Roosevelt drew back, however, when he realized that there was no public outcry for retaliation, and that, in fact, peace sentiment in the country had actually strengthened. "We should learn that it is about time for us to mind our own business," Texas Democrat Maury Maverick declared in the House of Representatives. Two days after the "Panay" was sunk, Congress took up the Ludlow amendment. cite book
last =Buchanan
first =Patrick J.
authorlink =
coauthors =
year =2002
title =A Republic, Not an Empire: Reclaiming America's Destiny
publisher =Regnery Publishing
location =
isbn =0895261596] cite book
last =Herring
first =George C.
authorlink =
coauthors =John Martin Carroll
year =1996
title =Modern American Diplomacy
publisher =Rowman & Littlefield
location =
isbn =0842025553Page 90] cite book
last =Kennedy
first =David M.
authorlink =
coauthors =
year =1999
title =Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945
publisher =Oxford University Press
location =
isbn =0195038347 Page 402] The Roosevelt administration attempted to keep the bill in the House Judiciary Committee, where it had been buried since Ludlow introduced the amendment in 1935; but at the end of 1937 the amendment got enough congressional support, including the signatures of nearly half the Democrats in the House, for a House vote on a discharge petition designed to permit debate on the proposed amendment. cite book
last =Parrish
first =Michael E.
authorlink =
coauthors =
year =1994
title =Anxious Decades: America in Prosperity and Depression 1920-1941
publisher =W. W. Norton & Company
location =
isbn =0393311341 Page 457] The amendment came closest to overcoming a discharge petition on January 10 1938, when it was defeated in Congress by a vote of 209 to 188. This meant that the amendment was never debated in the House. Despite Roosevelt's fears, this vote was far short of the two-thirds majority required by both houses of Congress (290 in the House) for later passage of a constitutional amendment. cite journal
first =
last =
authorlink =
coauthors =
year =1937
month =December 15
title =War Referendum Recalled To House; Petition to Relieve the Rules Committee Signed by 218 Members, One Now Dead Will Reach Floor Jan. 10 Administration Leaders Say Amendment Will Be Defeated When Vote Is Taken War Referendum Recalled To House Signers Of Referendum Members of House Who Forced Out the War Curb Bill
journal =New York Times
volume =
issue =
pages = 1
id =
url =] Before the discharge petition vote, speaker of the House William B. Bankhead read a letter written by President Roosevelt:

cquote|I must frankly state that I consider that the proposed amendment would be impracticable in its application and incompatible with our representative form of government.

Our Government is conducted by the people through representatives of their own choosing. It was with singular unanimity that the founders of the Republic agreed upon such free and representative form of government as the only practical means of government by the people.

Such an amendment to the Constitution as that proposed would cripple any President in his conduct of our foreign relations, and it would encourage other nations to believe that they could violate American rights with impunity. cite book
last =Horowitz
first =David A.
authorlink =
coauthors =
year =1996
title =Beyond Left & Right: Insurgency and the Establishment
publisher =
location =
id = Page 168] cite journal
first =
last =
authorlink =
coauthors =
year =1938
month =January 17
title =Roosevelt Week
journal =Time Magazine
volume =
issue =
pages =
id =
url =http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,758848,00.html ]

Text of proposed amendment

SEC. 1. Except in the event of an invasion of the United States or its Territorial possessions and attack upon its citizens residing therein, the authority of Congress to declare war shall not become effective until confirmed by a majority of all votes cast thereon in a Nation-wide referendum. Congress, when it deems a national crisis to exist, may by concurrent resolution refer the question of war or peace to the citizens of the States, the question to be voted on being, Shall the United States declare war on ________? Congress may otherwise by law provide for the enforcement of this section.

SEC. 2. Whenever war is declared the President shall immediately conscript and take for use by the Government all the public and private war properties, yards, factories, and supplies, together with employees necessary for their operation, fixing the compensation for private properties temporarily employed for the war period at a rate not in excess of 4 percent based on tax values assessed in the year preceding the war. cite web
title =Ludlow Amendment 1938
work =
url =http://www.cusdi.org/ludlow-1938.htm
accessdate=2006-09-05 ]

Quotes

Congressman Ludlow:

cquote|If the United States had such an anti-war provision in its Constitution, other countries would follow our example, and I believe wars would be brought to an end. cite journal
first =
last =
authorlink =
coauthors =
year =1936
month =November 29
title =To Seek War Curb Again; Ludlow Will Reintroduce Plan Calling for Popular Vote
journal =The New York Times
volume =
issue =
pages =
id =
url = ]

Notes

ee also

*Amendments to the United States Constitution
*Nye Committee

External links

* [http://www.cusdi.org/ludlow-1938.htm Ludlow Amendment 1938]

Further reading

*cite book
last = Bolt, Jr.
first =Ernest C.
authorlink =
coauthors =
year =1977
title =Ballots before Bullets: The War Referendum Approach to Peace in America, 1914-1941
publisher =University of Virginia Press
location =
id =
*cite book
last =Carnes
first =Mark C.
authorlink =
coauthors =John A. Garraty, Patrick Williams
year =1996
title =Mapping America's Past: An Historical Atlas
publisher =Henry Holt and Co.
location =
isbn =0805049274 Offers voter patterns on the Ludlow Amendment.
*cite book
last =Koginos
first =Manny T.
authorlink =
coauthors =
year =1967
title =The Panay Incident: Prelude to War
publisher =Purdue University Studies
location =
id =
*cite journal
first =Kyle
last =Smith
authorlink =
coauthors =
year =1988
month =
title =War and the Ballot Box: The Debate Over the Ludlow Amendment
journal =M.A. Thesis, Northwestern University
volume =
issue =
pages =
id =
url =