In STEEPS categorization, this is primarily a Political/Policycounterfactual. This is clearly low-probability for its time, but I think it offers us a window into national security law and policy in a more smart agent-enhanced, democratic future. In the 1930’s the Ludlow Amendment, introduced by Senator Louis Ludlow several times between 1935 and 1940, and voted on in Congress in 1938, called for a national referendum on any declaration of war by Congress, except in cases where the U.S. had been attacked first. It’s public popularity peaked at 75%, but support began to fall away after Germany invaded Poland in 1939.

Pres. Franklin Roosevelt in 1938

It was aggressively resisted by President Franklin Roosevelt, who wanted the freedom to go to war as he chose. It was defeated in Congress in1938 by a vote of 209 against to 188 for the amendment. As a constitutional amendment, it would have needed a two-thirds majority voting for it, 290 in the House in order to pass. Thus it came a lot less close to passing than Roosevelt had feared. Then in Sept 1939, Hitler invaded Poland, and at that point the amendment movement lost all hope of succeeding. Also of very limited effect at preventing war during the German military buildup in the 1930s were the various Neutrality Acts passed by Congress between 1935 and 1939.

While the Ludlow amendment and the Neutrality Acts were both well-meaning efforts at preventing unnecessary foreign conflicts, each fortunately did not prevent the US from entering World War II, which almost all Americans view as