Cheney’s 1989 Draft Speech on Congressional Overreaching in Foreign Policy
In his book Takeover, Charlie Savage analyzed a draft speech by Richard Cheney for a 1989 Conference at AEI that Cheney never delivered because he was nominated to be Secretary of Defense. Charlie has now posted the speech, which is entitled “Congressional Overreaching in Foreign Policy.” The speech focuses on con
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In his book Takeover, Charlie Savage analyzed a draft speech by Richard Cheney for a 1989 Conference at AEI that Cheney never delivered because he was nominated to be Secretary of Defense. Charlie has now posted the speech, which is entitled “Congressional Overreaching in Foreign Policy.” The speech focuses on congressional overreaching in diplomacy, covert actions, and war powers. It is perhaps the most complete statement of Cheney’s philosophy of separation of powers. (The other main statement is the minority report for the Iran-Contra Committee.) It is an intelligent and sometimes subtle defense of presidential power that is entirely consistent with the views that Cheney espoused as Vice-President.
Jack Goldsmith is the Learned Hand Professor at Harvard Law School, co-founder of Lawfare, and a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Before coming to Harvard, Professor Goldsmith served as Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel from 2003-2004, and Special Counsel to the Department of Defense from 2002-2003.
