ABSTRACT
The Vietnam War during the 1960s and early 1970s raised a series of civil liberties issues unlike those in any other major military conflict in the United States up to that time. The issues raised during the Vietnam War have had an enduring impact upon the United States. The power to engage in war or defend the United States from foreign attacks is located both in Congress and the president. Yet the president's commander-in-chief powers also suggest that the executive branch has significant military authority to act, especially to defend the United States from attacks, and prior to Vietnam there were many examples of when the president used this authority to defend the country. However, in New York Times Co. v. United States, 403 US 713, the Supreme Court rejected the government's demand for prior restraint to halt their publication and instead defended the freedom of the press to print the papers.
