The Military-Industrial Complex Revisited
Living in a society that has for my entire life surrounded me with war, rhetoric and symbols of war, threats of war, real war, and on and on, I regularly think about how we might change this course.
Recently I was reminded of President Eisenhower's Farewell Address of January 19, 1961. So, I went back to read it. It is a strikingly prescient speech from a President who frequently seemed so milquetoasty and just perhaps a bit slow, though as I write this I remember that he was a President who had extensive in person contact with war.
Here are the paragraphs most focused on our war state:
A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction. Our military organization today bears little relation to that known of any of my predecessors in peacetime, or, indeed, by the fighting men of World War II or Korea.
Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense. We have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security alone more than the net income of all United States cooperations -- corporations.
Now this conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every Statehouse, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet, we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources, and livelihood are all involved. So is the very structure of our society.
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.
The complete speech (its actually quite short) is here
February 4, 2006: Today I discovered that back on December 10, 2004 I wrote about rediscovering the same Eisenhower speech to much the same point.
Recently I was reminded of President Eisenhower's Farewell Address of January 19, 1961. So, I went back to read it. It is a strikingly prescient speech from a President who frequently seemed so milquetoasty and just perhaps a bit slow, though as I write this I remember that he was a President who had extensive in person contact with war.
Here are the paragraphs most focused on our war state:
Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense. We have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security alone more than the net income of all United States cooperations -- corporations.
Now this conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every Statehouse, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet, we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources, and livelihood are all involved. So is the very structure of our society.
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.
The complete speech (its actually quite short) is here
February 4, 2006: Today I discovered that back on December 10, 2004 I wrote about rediscovering the same Eisenhower speech to much the same point.
