Alexander Bickel on Foreign Affairs and the Constitution

Foreign Affairs and the Constitution By Louis Henkin Foundation Press, 553 pp., $11.50 “Volumes about the American Constitution and about American foreign relations abound,” writes Louis Henkin, “but they are two different mountains of books. Those that deal with the Constitution say little about American foreign relations; the others expound . . . foreign policy . . . but the controlling relevance of the Constitution is roundly ignored.” The two mountains have now come to Mohammed. Louis Henkin, who was actively engaged for a decade as a State Department officer in the conduct of foreign relations, is Hamilton Fish Professor of International Law and Diplomacy at Columbia. His other career, pursued concurrently, has been as a student and teacher of American constitutional law.

Foreign Affairs and the Constitution is really two books, of almost equal size. There are 280 pages of text intended to be accessible to a general public—a general public, not the general public. He who runs may read, and he will take something away. But in order to get his money’s worth he had better be reasonably informed to begin with, and pretty highly motivated. He will find in these pages an overview of constitutional arrangements relevant to our foreign affairs, peaceful or otherwise, that does not hide difficulties, doubts, and ambiguities, but does not oppressively dwell on them. The specialist may be somewhat put off by a certain avuncular tone. But no matter how much he knows and in what depth, this text will help him collect his thoughts, and check and organize his own perceptions. And then there are over two hundred pages of footnotes, numerous ones constituting valuable little essays, and all of them good water for the specialist to swim in—to and sometimes beyond his depth—and for the generalist to dip his toe in.

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Alexander M. Bickel

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Foreign Affairs and the Constitution By Louis Henkin Foundation Press, 553 pp., $11.50 “Volumes about the American Constitution and about American foreign relations abound,” writes Louis Henkin, “but they are two different mountains of books. Those that deal with the Constitution say little about American foreign relations; the others expound . . . foreign policy . . . but the controlling relevance of the Constitution is roundly ignored.” The two mountains have now come to Mohammed. Louis Henkin, who was actively engaged for a decade as a State Department officer in the conduct of foreign relations, is Hamilton Fish Professor of International Law and Diplomacy at Columbia. His other career, pursued concurrently, has been as a student and teacher of American constitutional law.

Foreign Affairs and the Constitution is really two books, of almost equal size. There are 280 pages of text intended to be accessible to a general public—a general public, not the general public. He who runs may read, and he will take something away. But in order to get his money’s worth he had better be reasonably informed to begin with, and pretty highly motivated. He will find in these pages an overview of constitutional arrangements relevant to our foreign affairs, peaceful or otherwise, that does not hide difficulties, doubts, and ambiguities, but does not oppressively dwell on them. The specialist may be somewhat put off by a certain avuncular tone. But no matter how much he knows and in what depth, this text will help him collect his thoughts, and check and organize his own perceptions. And then there are over two hundred pages of footnotes, numerous ones constituting valuable little essays, and all of them good water for the specialist to swim in—to and sometimes beyond his depth—and for the generalist to dip his toe in.