Cooper-Church amendment

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Congressional opposition to U.S. wars and interventions

1812 North America House Federalists’ Address

1935-1939 (General) Neutrality Acts

1935-40 (General) Ludlow Amendment

1970 Vietnam McGovern-Hatfield Amendment

1970 Southeast Asia Cooper-Church Amendment

1971 Vietnam Repeal of Tonkin Gulf Resolution

1973 Southeast Asia Case-Church Amendment

1973 (General) War Powers Resolution

1974 Covert Ops (General) Hughes-Ryan Amendment

1976 Angola Clark Amendment

1982 Nicaragua Boland Amendment

2007 Iraq House Concurrent Resolution 63

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The Cooper-Church amendment was introduced in the United States Senate during the Vietnam War. The amendment was the first time that the Congress had restricted the deployment of troops during a war against the wishes of the president.^[1]

The amendment sought to:

1. End funding to retain U.S. ground troops and military advisors in Cambodia and Laos after June 30, 1970;
2. Bar air combat operations in Cambodian airspace in direct support of Cambodian forces without congressional approval, and also
3. End American support for South Vietnamese forces outside of Vietnam.

It was presented by Senators John Sherman Cooper and Frank Church and attached to a major bill, the Foreign Military Sales Bill (HR 15628). After a seven week filibuster and six months of debate, the amendment was approved by the Senate 58 to 37 on June 30, 1970, but caused a deadlock on the bill as the House of Representatives opposed inclusion of the amendment 237 to 153. President Richard Nixon threatened to veto the bill if it contained the Cooper-Church provisions, and the foreign assistance bill was subsequently passed without the Cooper-Church amendment.

A revised Cooper-Church amendment, Public Law 91-652, passed both houses of Congress on December 22, 1970, and was enacted on January 5, 1971, though this version had limited restrictions on air operations and was attached to the Supplementary Foreign Assistance Act of 1970. By this time, U.S. ground forces had already officially withdrawn from Cambodia, while U.S. bombing runs in Cambodia continued until 1973. The Nixon administration denounced all versions of the amendment, claiming that they harmed the war effort and weakened the American bargaining position with respect to North Vietnam.

Author David F. Schmitz states that the amendment was a landmark in the history of opposition to the war, congressional initiatives to bring the fighting to an end, and efforts to control executive power in foreign policy.^[1]

[edit] Notes

[edit] See also

• Opposition to the Vietnam War

[edit] References

• Henry Kissinger. Ending the Vietnam War. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2002.
• Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War. Oxford University Press, 2000.