Abstract

Diplomacy, Religion, and the Constitution

This article presents information on the public policies of the U.S. The author opines that it is a political tradition in the U.S. to discuss questions of public policy as problems of constitutional law. Therefore, when Harry S. Truman, President of the U.S. announced his decision to send an ambassador to the Vatican, discussions were made of the violation being made by the president of a provision of the first amendment which states that "Congress Shall Make no Law Respecting an Establishment of Religion." The author opines that those people who have asserted that the presidential proposal is unconstitutional must have, quite naturally, turned to passages in recent opinions of the U.S. Supreme Count in which the justices, speaking either for themselves or for the court, have made broad pronouncements with respect to the meaning of the U.S. principle of separation embodied in the first amendment.