President Dwight D. Eisenhower's Speech on the American Military Industrial Complex, January 17, 1961
Another factor in
maintaining balance involves the element of time. As we peer into society's
future, we - you and I, and our government - must avoid the impulse to live
only for today, plundering, for our own ease and convenience, the precious
resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our
grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual
heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to
become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.
.... 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.
Akin to, and largely
responsible for the sweeping changes in our industrial-military posture, has
been the technological revolution during recent decades. In this revolution,
research has become central; it also becomes more formalized, complex, and
costly. A steadily increasing share is conducted for, by, or at the direction
of, the Federal government.
Today, the solitary
inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been overshadowed by task forces of
scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free
university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific
discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly
because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a
substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now
hundreds of new electronic computers.
The prospect of
domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations,
and the power of money is ever present and is gravely to be
regarded. Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we
should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public
policy could itself become the captive of a scientifictechnological elite.
It is the task of
statesmanship to mold, to balance, and to integrate these and other forces, new
and old, within the principles of our democratic system -- ever aiming toward
the supreme goals of our free society....read the full speech:
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