Today in History

Today in History

1961

President Eisenhower Warns of Military-Industrial Complex

On January 17, 1961, Dwight D. Eisenhower ended

his presidential term by warning the nation about the increasing power of the military-industrial complex.

His remarks, issued during a televised farewell address to the American people, were particularly significant since Ike had famously served the nation as military commander of the Allied forces during WWII.

Eisenhower urged his successors (John Kennedy was the newly-elected president) to strike a balance between a strong national defense and diplomacy in dealing with the Soviet Union. He did not suggest arms reduction and in fact acknowledged that the bomb was an effective deterrent to nuclear war.

However, cognizant that America’s peacetime defense policy had changed drastically since his military career, Eisenhower expressed concerns about the growing influence of what he termed "the military-industrial complex."

Before and during the Second World War, American industries had successfully converted to defense production as the crisis demanded, but out of the war, what Eisenhower called a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions emerged.

This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry was new in the American experience Eisenhower warned, "[while] we recognize the imperative need for this development...we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence…The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist."

Eisenhower cautioned that the federal government’s collaboration with an alliance of military and industrial leaders, though necessary, was vulnerable to abuse of power. Ike then counseled American citizens to be vigilant in monitoring the military-industrial complex.

Ike also recommended restraint in consumer habits, particularly with regard to the environment. "As we peer into society’s future, we–you and I, and our government–must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering the future, for our own present ease and convenience, appropriating the precious resources of tomorrow," he said. "We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without asking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage."