James A. Leach: “I would submit that while rooted in a quasi-party platform, the contract, the issues in this bill must not be considered…”

“I would submit that while rooted in a quasi-party platform, the contract, the issues in this bill must not be considered partisan. There is a great Republican as well as Democratic tradition of internationalism. As a Republican I would stress that my party should take great care not to weaken the Presidency just because we have a weak President; not to eviscerate the United Nations just because of one or another mistaken U.N. policies; and above all, not ignore the Constitution's separation of power doctrine just because we now control the legislature. For three quarters of a century, the United States has exercised preeminent world leadership in cooperative efforts to build a civilized international policy based on the rule of law. American leadership conceived the League of Nations to replace a shattered European balance-of-power system after World War I. American leadership was crucial to the establishment of the United Nations system in the aftermath of World War II. Yet there is an ambivalence, if not tension, in the American psyche between isolationism and internationalism, between hubristic go-it-alone-ism and the sharing of global responsibilities. Thus an isolationist America rejected the League in the 1920s. And in this bill this Congress is contemplating the placement of profound roadblocks in multilateral peacekeeping.”