Powers of the President of the United States The amount of military detail handled personally by the President in wartime has varied dramatically. George Washington, the first U.S. president, firmly established military subordination under civilian authority. In 1794, Washington used his constitutional powers to assemble 12,000 militia to quell the Whiskey Rebellion—a conflict in western Pennsylvania involving armed farmers and distillers who refused to pay excise tax on spirits. According to historian Joseph Ellis, this was the "first and only time a sitting American president led troops in the field", though James Madison briefly took control of artillery units in defense of Washington D.C. during the War of
The Man Who Never Was of the proposed plan. It was described by Ben Macintyre in "Operation Mincemeat" as a "surreal" moment when the real Montagu addressed his fictional persona, played by Webb. The film earned an estimated $1.1 million in North American rentals in 1956. The "Radio Times" wrote, "the picture may appear overly reverent by today's standards. But this is still a crucial wartime spy tale that is well worth watching." The BBC's popular radio comedy show, "The Goon Show", made a send-up of the story of "The Man Who Never Was" (based on the book) and incorporated most of the regular "Goon