Words From President Dwight D. Eisenhower which Raise Many Questions About America in the 21st Century

Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart  

When President Dwight D. Eisenhower left office in 1961, he made an address to the American people. The most significant issue from one of the architects who organized and planned the events known as “D-Day,” involved the growth of the “military industrial complex in America. His warning may have been a prophecy about every military conflict in which the United States was involved since WWII: each of which resulted in the surrender of America’s military. The often-repeated phrase, “war is good business” is involved in his admonition. The following are excerpts from President Eisenhower’s final speech to the American people, prior to John F. Kennedy’s inauguration. 

“Our military organization today bears little relation to that known by any of my predecessors in peacetime.”   

The second: “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.” 

Number three: “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.” 

Finally, number four: “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.” 

The primary question becomes, “how much profit was gained by the military brass and our elected officials in Washington after our nation was engaged in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq? All of these wars embarrassed our nation after our losses far outweighed minimal gains in the areas of conflict. The only accurate fact about every war since WWII is we, the United States of America, lost. 

The annual budget for our military is nearing one-trillion dollars a year. This number is five-times more than all other nations combined. Republicans insist that we increase their annual allotment although they have failed to win a single war since WWII, and watchdog groups claim that the Pentagon wastes fifty cents out of every dollar they receive. 

Take a moment and consider how this enormous amount of money could positively affect our nation’s people. Every American could have free healthcare. Every American who wants a college education could receive free tuition. There would no longer be one homeless person. No one in America would go to sleep at night hungry. 

America’s greatest flaw is that it refuses to learn from its past failures. Republicans, more accurately “MAGA Republicans,” would prefer to live in the past instead of joining every other developed country in the future. 

Op-ed by James Turnage 

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Source: https://blog.ucsusa.org/jknox/four-quotes-from-eisenhowers-military-industrial-complex-speech-that-still-resonate-today/