With support from the University of Richmond

History News Network puts current events into historical perspective. Subscribe to our newsletter for new perspectives on the ways history continues to resonate in the present. Explore our archive of thousands of original op-eds and curated stories from around the web. Join us to learn more about the past, now.

Hayworth wrongly says U.S. never declared war on Nazi Germany

Republican Senate challenger J.D. Hayworth recently bungled World War II history by asserting at a recent meeting with Republicans in Phoenix that the United States never declared war on Adolf Hitler's Germany.

In remarks captured on a YouTube video, Hayworth, a former Arizona congressman, flatly says, "We never formally declared war on Hitler's Germany, and yet we fought the war."

That's incorrect. You can read the formal Dec. 11, 1941, U.S. declaration of war on Germany at this link.

Hayworth made the gaffe in the context of a question about recent uses of military force sans a formal congressional declaration of war, which the U.S. Constitution requires.

"But I would also point out, that if we want to be sticklers, the war that (future President) Dwight Eisenhower led in Europe against the Third Reich was never declared by the United States Congress," Hayworth said. "Recall, the Congress passed a war resolution against Japan. Germany declared war on us two days later. We never formally declared war on Hitler's Germany, and yet we fought the war."...
Read entire article at AZcentral.com