Mary L. Dudziak, in War Time: An Idea, Its History, Its Consequences (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012) argues that the way American people view the temporality of war negatively affects how seriously the population thinks about the legal effects of war, including increased presidential power, the ways in which justice and constitutional law are altered during time of conflict, and that America’s permanent state of defense is a war in its own way. Dudziak asserts that for practical and political purposes, wartime and its consequences are present throughout a majority of American politics.
Dudziak uses a varying range of primary sources throughout War Time. Mainly, Dudziak utilizes newspaper articles, speeches, photographs, and government documents. Dudziak also uses several court cases since she is a legal scholar. …show more content…
Many people believe that the United States was not involved in the second World War until after the Attack on Pearl Harbor. Dudziak describes how “long before war was declared, [President Franklin Roosevelt] was fully acting as commander in chief, amassing an army, deploying weaponry, supplying allies” (50). Despite Congress not officially declaring war until December 11, 1941, President Roosevelt was already utilizing his executive powers as commander-in-chief and war time law was in effect. By allowing the President to use war time powers in a time that is not technically war, the temporary changes that conflict bring become less finite than they