Open Thread for Tuesday
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.”
Posted by Mayor Sam @ 1/17/2006 12:00:00 AM
2 Comments:
A true prophet.
Even he would probably not believe how big it has gotten, or how it controls our national life.
Let's recall that in the draft of his speech he referred to it as the "military-industrial-congrssional complex". Congressional pork has always been the key enabler of this particular money sink, and Ike was dead wrong to strike the word "congressional" from his final speech, for fear of upsetting an already dysfunctional congress.
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