President Eisenhower Warns Of Military
On January 17, 1961, Dwight D. Eisenhower ends 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 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 Americas 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.
Ike also recommended restraint in consumer habits, particularly with regard to the environment. “As we peer into societys future, weyou and I, and our governmentmust avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering, for our own ease and convenience, 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.”
What Ikes Military Industrial Complex Speech Didnt Say
Today is the 61st anniversary of President Dwight D. Eisenhowers coining of the Military Industrial Complex in his farewell address, Jan. 17, 1961. His departure and the incoming Kennedy administration would herald, at least in popular lore, the New Frontier. Three years later, the young Kennedy would be dead, an assassination forever at the center of unresolved collective disbelief and mystery. Conspiracy theories have abounded, most all of them involving some level of government cover-up in the aftermath of the assassination.
The latest tranche of declassified JFK documents in December hasnt helped, for sure. They reaffirm a level of CIA knowledge of suspected lone gunman Harvey Lee Oswald years and weeks before the assassination heretofore unknown. The CIA had long constructed a narrative, beginning during the 1964 Warren Commission investigation of Kennedys killing, that the agencys awareness of Oswald before November 22, 1963 was minimal. We know now, due to all of the documents declassified up through the last year, that the CIA was actively lying.
According to longtime CIA and Kennedy assassination biographer Jefferson Morely, the amount of info the agency had stored up on this so-called lonesome loser before that day in Dallas was more like maximal:
Eisenhower And The Origins Of The Military
Less than a week before he left office, President Eisenhower delivered his final speech to the American public, a speech that would come to be known as his Farewell Address. In the most famous portion of the address, Eisenhower warns against the danger of the military-industrial complex. The term so neatly captured an emerging phenomenon that, decades later, historians and popular commentators use it without pointing to its origin. Yet it is worth studying the original context to understand exactly what Eisenhower meant
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.
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.
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Looking to the Future
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Eisenhower : The Military
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My fellow Americans:
Three days from now, after half a century in the service of our country, I shall lay down the responsibilities of office as, in traditional and solemn ceremony, the authority of the Presidency is vested in my successor.
This evening I come to you with a message of leave-taking and farewell, and to share a few final thoughts with you, my countrymen.
Like every other citizen, I wish the new President, and all who will labor with him, Godspeed. I pray that the coming years will be blessed with peace and prosperity for all.
Our people expect their President and the Congress to find essential agreement on issues of great moment, the wise resolution of which will better shape the future of the Nation.
My own relations with the Congress, which began on a remote and tenuous basis when, long ago, a member of the Senate appointed me to West Point, have since ranged to the intimate during the war and immediate post-war period, and, finally, to the mutually interdependent during these past eight years.
The record of many decades stands as proof that our people and their government have, in the main, understood these truths and have responded to them well, in the face of stress and threat. But threats, new in kind or degree, constantly arise. I mention two only.
The Real Point Of Eisenhowers Warning About The Military
Sunday, Jan. 17, will mark the 55th anniversary of President Dwight D. Eisenhowers famous military-industrial complex speech. His key warning,…
ByAngry Staff Officer | Published Jan 15, 2016 10:00 AM
Sunday, Jan. 17, will mark the 55th anniversary of President Dwight D. Eisenhowers famous military-industrial complex speech. His key warning, In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex is what most people recall of this speech. It was taken to be a harbinger of the things that followed: the Vietnam War, massive defense spending, and increased American military involvement around the world.
But was that really the point that Eisenhower was trying to get across in his farewell address? In many ways, his address was a warning to the American people that is as timely now as it was then: The world is entering an era of persistent conflict and America must be prepared to accept that, as well as the costs of being a leader in the world community. It also must be ready and guarded to take on the dangers and pitfalls that are the flipside to having a large, modernized, and ever-developing military.
Throughout America’s adventure in free government, our basic purposes have been to keep the peace to foster progress in human achievement, and to enhance liberty, dignity and integrity among people and among nations, Eisenhower said.
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Ike Was Wrong: The Military
Eisenhowers speech, principally aimed at tamping down the shrill and untrue claims of the famous missile gap, perhaps unintentionally stoked the historic fire of populism that distrusted the private sector and feared wartime profiteering. His words would be used to destroy the very defense innovation system he had helped create and shepherd.
President Eisenhower sat down before television cameras and delivered his farewell speech to the nation some 60 years ago, a speech that became famous for one trope beware the Military-Industrial Complex.
In this landmark speech, one of the nations most revered warriors called for balance in the nations affairs: Good judgment seeks balance and progress lack of it eventually finds imbalance and frustration. But what is most remembered is that he also warned the nation of the potential for collusion between portions of the state and the defense industry: 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.
But Eisenhowers speech has become known for that one phrase and much has been ascribed to it. But the speech reportedly went through at least 30 edits over almost 18 months and it changed as circumstances did.
President Dwight Eisenhower Farewell Address
President Dwight Eisenhower spoke to the nation in a farewell address. The address, sometimes referred to as the “Military-Industrial Complex Speech”, is considered by some to be one of the most significant speeches of the Eisenhower presidency.
*This text was compiled from uncorrected Closed Captioning.
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Eisenhower Warns Of Military
As early as 1959, Dwight D. Eisenhower, the sole general to be elected president in the 20th century, began to work with his younger brother Milton, president of Johns Hopkins University, and Malcolm Moos, his chief speechwriter, to create his final statement as he left public life. | AFP/Getty Images
01/17/2019 12:06 AM EST
On this day in 1961, Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th president, delivered a farewell address in which he warned the nation about the corrupting influence of the military-industrial complex.
As he put it in his final televised speech:
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 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, 3½ million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security alone more than the net income of all United States corporations.
With People Profiting From Armaments And Their Development There Will Inevitably Be The Push For More Weapons
Former President Dwight D. Eisenhower, left.
President Dwight Eisenhowers farewell address of Jan. 17, 1961, is just as relevant today as back then. Ike warned American citizens of the military-industrial complex and the dangers it presented to our nation and the world.
Eisenhower was rightly wary of the armaments industry, which at that time was relatively new. Ike knew that such a massive arms industry could dominate the nation.
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Though dangerous, Eisenhower considered the military-industrial complex necessary to deter Soviet Union from aggression against the United States and its allies. But he urged his successors in government to balance defense and diplomacy in their relations with the Soviet Union, saying: We must learn how to compose differences not with arms, but with intellect and decent purpose.
Laura Eisenhowers Family Tree And Recent Revelations
Could there be any validity to Eisenhowers assertions of an extraterrestrial military-industrial complex that has set up a colony on Mars? Though the story may sound farfetched, there have been a number of interesting revelations lately that could lend some credibility to her claims.
The exposure of a black budget Pentagon UFO study over the course of five years seems like it could potentially lead to the disclosure of a larger cover-up one that has possibly existed since the UFO phenomenon began in the mid 1900s. This disclosure portends a revelation of extraterrestrial technology, unlike anything on Earth, that might be in the process of being reverse-engineered.
One of the people Eisenhower named as being involved with the secret Mars colony was Dr. Hal Puthoff, engineer and former member of the Stanford Research Institute. Puthoff is part of the team at To The Stars Academy, the group lead by former rockstar Tom Delonge currently leading a disclosure movement. The group has hinted at exposing reverse-engineered, advanced extraterrestrial technology.
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As early as 1959, Eisenhower, the sole general to be elected president in the 20th century, began to work with his younger brother Milton, president of Johns Hopkins University, and Malcolm Moos, his chief speechwriter, to create his final statement as he left public life. According to Susan Eisenhower, his granddaughter, the 1,800-word speech went through at least 21 drafts, marking a solemn moment in a decidedly unsolemn time, warning a nation giddy with prosperity, infatuated with youth and glamour, and aiming increasingly for the easy life.
Eisenhower had served in the White House for two full terms. He was the first president to be limited by an amendment to the U.S. Constitution from seeking reelection. The 1960 election had resulted in the defeat of Richard M. Nixon, his vice president, by Sen. John F. Kennedy . In three days time, the oldest American president in a century would hand the reins of presidential power to the youngest one ever elected.
SOURCE: This Day in Presidential History, by Paul Brandus
Eisenhower And The Military
A retired five-star general in the U.S. Army, Dwight D. Eisenhower had served as commander of Allied forces during World War II, and directed the D-Day invasion of France in 1944.
Eisenhowers two terms as U.S. president coincided with an era of military expansion unlike any other in the nations history. Rather than draw down its troops, as it had after World War II, the U.S. military kept a large standing army after the Korean War ended in 1953, and maintained a high level of military preparedness due to the ongoing Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.
Private companies that after past wars had gone back to civilian production kept manufacturing armaments, producing increasingly sophisticated weapons in an arms race with the Soviets.
Despiteor perhaps because ofhis own experience with war, Eisenhower worried about the nations military growth, and the escalation of the Cold War, throughout his presidency. He tried to cut budgets for military services during his presidency, upsetting many in the Pentagon.
As one Eisenhower biographer, David Nichols, told the Associated Press in 2010: The military wanted a lot more than he was willing to give them. It frustrated the Army. He thought about it all the time.
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Who Is Laura Eisenhower
Great-granddaughter of Ike, Laura Eisenhower has become a well-recognized name in the UFO community, often giving lectures and running workshops at gatherings, including Contact in the Desert.
via collectiveevolution.com
Eisenhower became intrigued by the subject of ET contact after hearing rumors of Ike meeting with extraterrestrials and his involvement with the Majestic-12 secret committee.
Upon further research, Eisenhower said she found corroboration of the documents and stories she was reading, leading her to believe the events were real and did in fact take place. Though, she says none of her beliefs come from her family members and her views and theories are her own.
Eisenhower came to notoriety in the UFO community when she came forward claiming she had been recruited to travel to Mars in 2006 with a man, named Agent X. She became involved in a relationship with Agent X, who she later learned was on a mission to enlist her and her friend Ki Lia for an interplanetary mission. She says the U.S. government established a colony on Mars through black budget programs, as a survival mechanism in the case of a catastrophic event on Earth.
She has now devoted her life to spreading the divine feminine Gaia-Sophia energy to free us from the faux power structures of today. These power structures, Eisenhower believes, began long before Ike came into office and were the result of a deal struck between the government and extraterrestrials.