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Examples Of American Imperial Presidencies

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There are many theories connecting current and past presidents to imperial presidencies. The definition of an imperial presidency is a president who drifts from the written rules of the constitution. The various remarks and opinions accusing presidents of being imperialistic are generally from these who are conservative. This shows the occasional biasness that people occasionally show. There are many presidents who have perhaps taken their powers too far; Richard Nixon, Harry Truman, and Theodore Roosevelt were all accused of various imperialistic acts. First, Richard Nixon did many things to abuse his presidential powers. Outside of the knowledge of Congress, he ordered the American military to invade Cambodia and Laos. He was responsible for multiple bombing raids there which had major repercussions for our armed forces as well as America. Nixon also bugged the oval office to listen to …show more content…

During the Second World War, he apprehended all Japanese individuals on the West coast, whether they were U.S. citizen or not, based on the suspicion that they were spies for Japan. This was an executive order that was not passed by Congress. Also, he sent the military to Korea for three years, seized steel companies, and increased the armed forces for the Korean War. All of these actions were done discreetly and without the knowledge of Congress. By doing these things, Harry Truman displayed power that one single individual should not have in this country. Finally, a president who also abused his power was Theodore Roosevelt. He forced several Central American Countries into forming governments without the knowledge congress. One of the most famous of his actions was to fund the Panama Canal and organize the natives to build it, all of which, once again, without the approval of congress. Roosevelt displayed much of power during his presidency; all of these presidents did. But did they mean

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