Ike Lays It Out – The Military-Industrial Complex – January 17, 1961
enlarge “There – I said it, and I’m glad I said it” . Click here to view this media A significant day for a lot of reasons. First, it’s Martin Luther King Day but it’s also the 50th anniversary of the famous Eisenhower Farewell Address, or the “Military-Industrial Complex” address as it’s come to be known. Pres. Eisenhower: “A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be might, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction. . . . American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. . . . This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. . . .Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. . . . 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.” Where one is a celebration of a life of peace, the other is an acknowledgment of a world in turmoil. Still is.
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Ike Lays It Out – The Military-Industrial Complex – January 17, 1961
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on January 18, 2011. Filed under