Dwight Eisenhower Warned Us About The Takeover Of The Military Industrial Complex Decades Ago

[Initech]

This needs to be sent to every single member of Congress before action against Syria is authorized.

[leftstreet]

1. They already know it. They approve

As long as they make money from it, they don't give a shit

[virgogal]

2. No kidding.

[LastDemocratInSC]

3. The original drafts referred to the Military-Industrial-Congressional complex

The original drafts of Eisenhower's speech referred to the Military-Industrial-Congressional complex but the reference to Congress was removed before the speech was delivered because Eisenhower felt that including the term amounted to an attack by one part of the goverrnment (the President) on another (the Congress).

Eisenhower felt that inclusion of the term would detract from his larger message but he understood very well how the Military-Industrial complex was funded and how that resulted in corruption of the People's business.

[LearningCurve]

12. I think it was the right move

When I first heard the speech, I assumed the role of Congress. And I was very young.

[markiv]

4. It was a very honest, and complex message

(i was about to start such a thread, you beat me to it)

what he wss talking about, is how once you make a personal investment in any activity, you lose some objectivity in your beliefs about the activity, because self interest becomes part of your equation

just this past Sunday, I saw part of 'Meet the Press' with a panel discussion about SYria, they all seemed to favor going in. But then they cut to a commercial, for (I believe) General Dynamics - it showed fighter jets, and how they preserve freedom. They may fully believe this, but which decision makes for a better fiscal quarter (something they cant ignore) - intervention, or non intervention? An honorable head of a defense contractor has a responsibility to the American People - but he (and it usually will be a 'he') also has a responsibility to the stockholders - Eisenhower is pointing out this confilict of interest.

Let's look at a record of Meet the Press from an episode 2 months before Eisenhower's farewell speech:


"Meet the Press" Episode dated 27 November 1960 (1960)

The guests are Frank Pace, Vice Chairman of the President's Commission on National Goals, and Chairman of the Board for General Dynamics Corporation, and Dr. James R. Killian, Jr., Commission on National Goals, and Chairman of Massachusetts Institute of Technology Corporation."


Eisenhower wass pointing out, that even if a person is trying to be what most people would call 'good', that such motivations lurk around in their heads and souls, without them even realizing it. He was talking about his lifetime in the military, from West Point, to five star, and then commander in chief, answering to the people

In the last paragraph below, he is saying to those outside of the bubble of financial interest 'you cannot just take our (those inside the financial interest bubble) word for it!"

By 'exists and will persist', he's saying this message will be valid long into the future. This speech was a great gift to the American people


"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 by 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 now 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 more than the net income of all United States corporations.

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 State house, 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 militaryindustrial 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. "

[Octafish]

5. President Kennedy told them who was boss.

Even though they knew their invasion plans were compromised, the CIA and Pentagon tried to force Kennedy to make war over the Bay of Pigs.

While an attack on Soviet missile bases in Cuba and on ships at sea would escalate to nuclear war, the Pentagon and most of the Cabinet tried to force Kennedy to make war, nuclear if necessary -- the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The Pentagon and the Hawks in Congress and his Cabinet recommended war in Vietnam and southeast Asia to stop the spread of Communism, Kennedy sent volunteers -- which he ordered out by the end of 1964 -- but said he would never commit U.S. draftees to fight in another country's civil war, Vietnam.

Most troublesome to me, seeing how the Hawks lied America into invading Iraq twice in the last 22 years, DCI Allen Dulles and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Lyman Lemnitzer counseled Kennedy to order an all-out nuclear attack on the Soviet Union in Fall of 1963 -- the optimal time for a successful pre-emptive war.

Of course, we all know what happened next.

[Initech]

7. OMG, I remember those comments from Dana Parino!

Where did the Bush admin find those fucking morons?

[Octafish]

8. FOX n Roger Ailes, BFEE.

She was the only person injured when Fearless Leader ducked out of the way of the shoe...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/16/dana-perino-black-eye-spo_n_151412.html

...apart from the shoe thrower, who suffered a couple of broken bones.

[avaistheone1]

9. I was but a child then

but I remember how well President Kennedy handled this crisis. We had no doubt he was in charge.

[PowerToThePeople]

6. Defund the DoD. n/t

[Javaman]

10. I absolutely hate this speech.

because eisenhower was as much to blame if not the person to blame for the massive military build up during the 1950's which in turn fed the MIC.

so his speech to beware of the MIC rings so hollow and ridiculous, it's amazing anyone takes it even the least bit serious.

he's also the same fool that gave the go a head for one last U2 flight over Russia before the presidential elections.

You know the one, a certain Gary Powers piloted that one.

So please, spare me the political rhetoric from the guy that profited very well from the very thing he condemned.

[Supersedeas]

13. Profited?

[Javaman]

14. do you thinks an ex-general in charge of the allied forces in Europe in WWII then prez of the

united states who then expands the military to record levels walks away humbly on a military pension?

I have a bridge to sell you.

[Egalitarian Thug]

11. And George Washington warned us almost 200 years before that. n/t