Why did Eisenhower wait until his farewell address to warn of the Military–industrial complex?

[NNN0LHI]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military%E2%80%93industrial_complex

Military–industrial complex

Military–industrial complex (MIC), or Military–industrial-congressional complex (MICC) is a concept commonly used to refer to policy and monetary relationships between legislators, national armed forces, and the industrial sector that supports them. These relationships include political contributions, political approval for defense spending, lobbying to support bureaucracies, and beneficial legislation and oversight of the industry. It is a type of iron triangle.

The term is most often used in reference to the military of the United States, where it gained popularity after its use in the farewell address of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, though the term is applicable to any country with a similarly developed infrastructure.

The term is sometimes used more broadly to include the entire network of contracts and flows of money and resources among individuals as well as institutions of the defense contractors, The Pentagon, and the Congress and executive branch. This sector is intrinsically prone to principal-agent problem, moral hazard, and rent seeking. Cases of political corruption have also surfaced with regularity.

A similar thesis was originally expressed by Daniel Guérin, in his 1936 book Fascism and Big Business, about the fascist government support to heavy industry. It can be defined as, "an informal and changing coalition of groups with vested psychological, moral, and material interests in the continuous development and maintenance of high levels of weaponry, in preservation of colonial markets and in military-strategic conceptions of internal affairs."

Origin of the term

President of the United States (and former General of the Army) Dwight D. Eisenhower used the term in his Farewell Address to the Nation on January 17, 1961:

[jtown1123]

1. If he had done it any earlier, he would've been "dealt with." Just my two cents n/t

[joeybee12]

3. +1

[RKP5637]

8. +1, n/t

[indepat]

11. Your two cents are seasoned with dash of reality and a ton of common sense and

reason. :patriot:

[hifiguy]

13. Exactly.

It was his farewell speech. I've read a couple of Eisenhower biographies and one thing that came through them was just how much Ike as president distrusted the military. Having been at the top thereof, I suppose he had very good reasons for doing so.

The problem was that JFK took Ike's warning seriously. And look how that turned out.

[redqueen]

14. "JFK took Ike's warning seriously. And look how that turned out."

+1

[redqueen]

2. I have my suspicions.

They're quite :tinfoilhat:-ish.

[Javaman]

4. Because he had buyers remorse.

he was as much a part of the MIC and helped it become reality than anyone else.

He was trying to wall paper his willful involvement.

[TheWraith]

6. Bing!

Eisenhower oversaw more expansion of the military and military spending than basically any other president until Reagan.

[JackRiddler]

18. Exactly: Because he was looking back on the mess he had presided over.

[MADem]

5. Because he would have been run out of town on a rail--even sooner if he'd left in the "C" word.

....as in "MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL-CONGRESSIONAL" complex....

[Zen Democrat]

7. My understanding is that it was not in the prepared text of his remarks.

He sprang it on the Military-Industrial Complex in a live broadcast on his last day in office. He knew.

[RC]

9. Eisenhower didn't want to be JFK'd. The MIC had already given us

Korea and Viet Nam was already actively in the works.

[msongs]

10. he waited til his retirement cash grabs were all signed? nt

[Downwinder]

12. He would have lost his tee times?

[ieoeja]

15. He felt we needed it for the Cold War and should dismantle it when over.

He knew that would be a very long time giving it time to set down roots which would be hard to pull up.

You will note that he did not call for dismantling it in his farewell address. That dismantling should have been done post Cold War. The "Peace Dividend" as I believe George HW Bush called it.

[Uncle Joe]

16. I believe Eisenhower as President was intimidated by its' power.

Keep in mind Eisenhower came to office during the height of the McCarthy Era Witch Hunts and Cold War, political momentum was definitely on the side of a strong national defense against both real and imagined enemies.

I believe Eisenhower didn't feel he could prevail against such sentiment and the best he could do was to warn the nation in the hopes that political momentum would swing the other way allowing future leaders to reign in the military industrial complex.

The War with Vietnam and subsequent so called "War Against Drugs" put a stop to any such correction to this economic, political power imbalance.

Thanks for the thread, NNN0LHI.

[LanternWaste]

17. As per Rise and Fall of The Great Powers (Paul Kennedy)

As per Rise and Fall of The Great Powers (Paul Kennedy), there was a three year point in the mid-fifties (57-60, I think) in which both relative and absolute dollars being poured into the military declined. That Ike was indeed reducing both the power and the influence of the military, and that the trend may have actually continued under Kennedy had it not been for the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The author gave a few quotes from the middle of Ike's second term in which he voiced concern about the cost of military spending (and influence) as it would drag down consumer spending, and allow "special interests" (the oldest use of that phrase I'm aware of) far too much access to lawmaking.

So I think he did warn us after a fashion. That we didn't hear should be attributed to us rather than him I would think.

[AntiFascist]

19. Keep in mind that his Vice President, Richard Nixon....

who had originally been placed into politics by Prescott Bush, was in the process of planning a covert invasion of Cuba and setting into motion Operation 40. See the film JFK to understand some of the secret paramilitary operations set into motion around New Orleans. Nixon felt that he would have no problem defeating Kennedy in his run for president in 1960. Perhaps Eisenhower's warning aided the success of JFK.

[dtexdem]

20. What happened to the next president?

Ike knew what he was speaking out against.