Shall the Executive Agreement Replace the Treaty

Abstract

In recent years many political leaders and publicists have sought to prove that the treaty-making process, requiring the "undemocratic." valid and desirable preferably without congressional approval or, by a majority of Congress. 1300 executive agreements have been concluded history, as contrasted 900 i8 that up to 1928 only 15 for good reasons; treaties have been amended by have benefited the nation. BASES OF THE PROPOSALS FOR CHANGE The recent proposals for a change in the Constitution, either with or without benefit of a constitutional amendment, have their origin in several grievances and are said to derive moral support from several recent decisions of the Supreme Court. The modern "reform" movement may be said to have begun with Secretary Hay's denunciation of the Senate for substituting the word "treaty" for the words "special agreement" in them projected arbitration treaties of 1904.8 The movement received particular impetus from, and finds its chief present source in, the belief that the two thirds rule prevented American ratification of the Treaty of Versailles, and thus, to use President Wilson's phrase, "broke the heart of the world."