An American President faces war and finds himself hamstrung by a Congress that will not act. To protect national security, he invokes his powers as Commander-in- Chief and orders actions that seem to violate laws enacted by Congress. He is excoriated for usurping dictatorial powers, placing himself above the law, and threatening to "breakdown constitutional safeguards." One could be forgiven for thinking that the above describes former President George W. Bush. Yet these particular attacks on presidential power were levelled against Franklin D. Roosevelt. They could just as well describe similar attacks levelled against George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln and a number of other presidents challenged with leading the nation through times of national crisis.
