Senatorial Politics and Foreign Policy by Jewell Malcolm E.;

Author:Jewell, Malcolm E.; [Jewell, Malcolm E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Published: 2021-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Fortunately for recent American foreign policy, the Committee on Foreign Relations stands high before the Senate, well able to look out for itself, in contrast to its counterpart in the House of Representatives.

—H. BRADFORD WESTERFIELD

6

THE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE

POLITICAL POWER IS DECENTRALIZED IN CONGRESS LARGELY because of the strength of standing committees. In recent years perhaps the most powerful of these in the Senate has been the Foreign Relations Committee. Though the committee has been remarkably free from partisan conflict, its decisions have been instrumental in setting the record of both parties in the Senate on foreign policy. Most of the senators who have significantly influenced the Senate’s deliberations on foreign policy have been leaders, not of the parties, but of this committee. The limitations of the party leaders and the institutions described earlier have frequently resulted partly from the influence of the Foreign Relations Committee and its leadership.

Since personalities so often are the key to explaning power relationships in the Senate, an examination of the Foreign Relations Committee may well start with its recent leaders. Though these men have not been elected party leaders, they have exercised political power as well as personal influence in the Senate. This power derives not only from personal skill and experience but also from the ability to speak for the party and for the Foreign Relations Committee. The records of men like Arthur Vandenberg and Walter George are a rich source of information on the meaning of political leadership in the Senate. Since the chairman’s influence rests in part on the authority of the committee, it is important to probe the sources of that authority, the role of partisanship in the committee’s decisions, and the relationship of the committee to other committees in the Senate that deal with foreign affairs.1

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