Marsha,
President Eisenhower used the term, Military Industrial Complex, in
his outgoing speech on January 17. 1961. Posted below is an article
touching on some of his remarks. Notice that he is cautioning us as
he exits the office of president, not while he is in the office and
has some authority. Interesting also are his remarks at the end,
cautioning Americans not to be wasteful.
*****
On this day in 1961, Dwight D. Eisenhower ends his presidential term
by warning the nation about the increasing power of the
military-industrial complex.
His remarks, issued during a televised farewell address to the
American people, were particularly significant since Ike had famously
served the nation
as military commander of the Allied forces during WWII. Eisenhower
urged his successors to strike a balance between a strong national
defense and diplomacy
in dealing with the Soviet Union. He did not suggest arms reduction
and in fact acknowledged that the bomb was an effective deterrent to
nuclear war. However,
cognizant that America’s peacetime defense policy had changed
drastically since his military career, Eisenhower expressed concerns
about the growing influence
of what he termed the military-industrial complex.
Before and during the Second World War, American industries had
successfully converted to defense production as the crisis demanded,
but out of the war,
what Eisenhower called a permanent armaments industry of vast
proportions emerged. This conjunction of an immense military
establishment and a large arms
industry is new in the American experience Eisenhower warned, [while]
we recognize the imperative need for this development.we must not fail
to comprehend
its grave implicationswe must guard against the acquisition of
unwarranted influence…The potential for the disastrous rise of
misplaced power exists and
will persist. Eisenhower cautioned that the federal government’s
collaboration with an alliance of military and industrial leaders,
though necessary, was
vulnerable to abuse of power. Ike then counseled American citizens to
be vigilant in monitoring the military-industrial complex. 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.
Ike also recommended restraint in consumer habits, particularly with
regard to the environment. As we peer into society’s future, we–you
and I, and our
government–must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering,
for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow.
We cannot mortgage
the material assets of our grandchildren without asking the loss also
of their political and spiritual heritage.
On 6/30/15, Roger Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I don't know that he was the first to mention it, but he did coin the
phrase military industrial complex.
On 6/30/2015 9:22 PM, Martian.Lady wrote:
Hi
I don't think I followed politics when I was in grade and high
school. I had a general idea of what was going on but really didn't
know.
Was Eisenhower the first one to really mention the military
industrial complex? If so, was there as much power during the Kennedy
administration as there was in later times?
Marsha
