408 WRIGHT— POWER TO ESTABLISH 



Negotiations are ordinarily conducted primarily by the Secretary 

 of State, but the President may act personally. Thayer, in his 

 Life of Hay, thus indicates the relation between Presidents and Sec- 

 retaries of State : ^^ 



" Mr. Hay used to tell his friends that often President McKinley did 

 not send for him once a month on business, but that he saw President 

 Roosevelt every day. That statement illustrates the difference in initiative 

 betvi^een the two Presidents ; or, at least, the ratio of their interest in foreign 

 relations. From the moment of Mr. Roosevelt's accession, the State De- 

 partment felt a new impelling force behind it. The Secretary still con- 

 ducted the negotiations, but the origination and decisions of policy came to 

 rest more and more with the President. In no other case was this so true as 

 in that of the Panama Canal. In the earlier stages Mr. Roosevelt gave 

 directions which Mr. Hay carried out ; before the end, however, the Presi- 

 dent took the business into his own hands ; and has always frankly assumed 

 entire responsibility for the decisive stroke." 



235. National and International Political Officers and Agents. 



The Constitution itself recognizes the offices of "ambassadors, 

 •other public ministers and consuls " and specifically vests power to 

 appoint their occupants in the President acting with advice and con- 

 sent of the Senate. The exact definition of the grades, powers and 

 privileges of these officers is determined by international law and 

 treaty. As has been noticed, each of the three departments of gov- 

 ernment is held to have inherent power to appoint subordinates nec- 

 essary for carrying out its functions. The President's power to 

 negotiate, implied from his power to receive foreign ambassadors 

 and ministers, and from his power in the making of treaties, un- 

 doubtedly makes it necessary for him to employ special, sometimes 

 secret, agents to conduct negotiations. These powers, however, 

 have given rise to controversy. 



Congress, and particularly the Senate, has questioned the power 

 of the President (a) to interpret international law and treaty with 

 reference to the grades, functions and privileges of diplomatic 

 officers, (&) to decide when and where occasion has arisen for dis- 

 patching such officers, and (c) to act through agents appointed by 

 himself alone and holding no " office " established either by the Con- 

 stitution or by act of Congress. 



44 Thayer, Life of John Hay, 2: 297. See also Hunt, op. cit., p. 91. 



