Reading Room Document

Use of Troops in Vietnam and Cambodia

This memo concluded that the president had the constitutional authority to deploy troops for the purpose of evacuating Americans from Vietnam and Cambodia, and that the conduct would not violate any appropriations acts. The opinion also advised the attorney general that the president’s actions would be consistent with the War Powers Resolution because of the provision in the resolution that stated it was not intended to “alter the constitutional authority” of the President, and the president’s conduct was constitutional.

April 12, 1975