Eisenhower, a retired five-star Army general, a hero who led the allies on D-Day, made the remarks in his farewell speech from the White House. As president, he presided over an era of unprecedented prosperity, one also shadowed by nuclear weapons, Cold War rivalry with the Soviet Union, civil rights abuses at home, and concerns about America's proper role in the world.
But Eisenhower was worried about the costs of an arms race with the Soviet Union, and the resources it would take from other areas — such as building hospitals and schools.
“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex,” Eisenhower said that night. “The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”
Having seen firsthand the horrors and lingering sadness of war, Eisenhower said: “We must learn how to compose differences not with arms, but with intellect and decent purpose.”
He was also greatly concerned that as the military and the arms industry gained power, they would be a threat to democracy, with civilians losing control of the military-industrial complex.
“This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience,” Eisenhower said. “The total influence — economic, political, even spiritual — is felt in every city, every statehouse, every office of the federal government.”
The former Army general gave great thought to is words: recently revealed documents show that Eisenhower’s speech was a work in progress over two years, with drafts by his speech writers and input from his brother, Milton, a college president.
Unlike Kennedy and Johnson, who followed him, Eisenhower ignored the hysteria of the bomber and missile gaps in the 1950s, as well as the heightened concerns about US security in the mid-1950s, which called for unnecessary increases in the strategic arsenal.
He even ignored the many Democrats and Republicans who advocated for increased defense spending, and he even cut the military budget by 20 percent between 1953 and 1955 on the way to balancing the federal budget by 1956.
Fast forward to today: Where a politically astute Pentagon has parceled out defense contracts, jobs and installations to most of the 50 states, in the process using Congress as, what many critics here call “its in-house lobby.”
Tellingly, one of Eisenhower’s first drafts warned against the “military-industrial-congressional” complex, why the reference to Congress was stricken, and by whom, remains unknown.
“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,” Eisenhower said.
“…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.
“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.”
Today, there is much to examine regarding Eisenhower’s warning: While fifteen countries account for spending 82% of the world’s defense totals, the US is responsible for 46.5 per cent of the world total, distantly followed by the China (6.6% of world share), France (4.2%), UK (3.8%), and Russia (3.5%).
Even Defense Secretary Robert Gates recently warned that a “culture of endless money” was created in the booming post-9/11 defense budget would soon be coming to an end.
Gates himself slammed what he called the Pentagon’s often “wasteful, excessive, and unneeded spending.”
At $553 billion, the current US Defense budget is some $13 billion less than the Pentagon expected for 2012, says Gates, but still represents 3 percent growth over fiscal year 2011.
This makes the Pentagon the largest single spender of US federal dollars.
While the Pentagon has identified $178 billion in cuts for the five years from fiscal year 2012 to 2016, the defense budget – which does not including the costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – will continue to increase until 2015, when it flattens.
The 2015 cuts will include shrinking the size of the US Army and Marine Corps.
The 2015 date is significant. Afghan forces are to assume responsibility for security in their country in 2014 – presumably allowing US forces to depart in large numbers.
