The Militiary Industrial Complex

January 17, 1961

Eisenhower warns of “military-industrial complex”

On this day in 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 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 is 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. “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.”

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, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without asking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage.”