Max Baucus: “In the early part of the last century, Presidents Harding and Hoover actually designated Senators as delegates, not…”

“In the early part of the last century, Presidents Harding and Hoover actually designated Senators as delegates, not merely observers, to arms limitation negotiations. President Truman included Members of Congress in the delegations that negotiated the establishment of the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty. More recently, a special Senate Arms Control Observers Group was created in 1985 to oversee negotiations that led to the first Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. It included distinguished members of this body, including Senators Lugar, Stevens, Nunn, Pell, Wallop, Moynihan, Kennedy, Gore, Warner, and Nickles. President Reagan embraced this endeavor, precisely because he knew that a close working relationship with the Senate at the beginning of negotiations would increase the likelihood of ratification at the conclusion. Indeed, the history of Congressional involvement in the negotiation of treaties and other international agreements has its roots in the very origins of our Nation. Until the closing days of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, the Framers had intended for the Senate to have the sole authority to make treaties. And in the Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton acknowledged that treaty making ``will be found to partake more of the legislative than of the executive character . .…”