"Why We Fight"

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Recommended: Dwight eisenhower inagual speech

Fifty years ago, on January 17, 1961 President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave his farewell address to the nation. He talked about the dangers of deficit spending and of future planning. But, the main point that Eisenhower made that caused his farewell address to become famous was his valid concern and warning of the military-industry complex and it’s ability to destroy our security and liberty. Based on research and past events Eisenhower was correct in doing so because of America’s need for success and their ability to pay any cost to do so.

In his speech, Dwight D. Eisenhower forewarned the American people about the development of a 'military-industrial complex,' and the threats it might pose. He said, "The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist." (Eisenhower, 1961) His fears were warranted by the extreme development of the US Armed Forces after two world wars, and by the development of a "permanent arms industry of vast proportions". Today, both the military and the industry that succumbs to the military’s needs are vaster than ever. From present uneasy perspective, the 1950s are thought of as a time when everything had some order, ease and assurance. And, even though when President Eisenhower first gave his farewell address, he was thought to have been senile for his apparent animosity towards his country, now he though to be an intelligent and revered statesman who would never consider leading the U.S. into the situations we are currently in. Eisenhower was correct when he warned and forecast that the military-industry complex was “economic, political, even spiritual” and it was “felt in every city, every statehouse, every office of the federal government.” (Ledbetter, 2011)

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...arty controls the Congress and the White House one common thing remains: the military-industrial complex, or maybe (as we later found out how Eisenhower described it in a rough draft of his farewell address that was later changed) the military-industrial-congressional complex.

Works Cited

Eisenhower, D. (1961). Farewell address. 5407. Retrieved from http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5407.htm

Hari, J. (2011). Ike was right all along: the danger of the military-industrial complex. The Independent, Retrieved from http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/ike-was-right-all-along-the-danger-of-the-militaryindustrial-complex-2186133.html

Ledbetter, J. (2011). 50 year's ago. New York Times, Retrieved from http://www.zerohedge.com/article/all-all-it-appears-eisenhower%E2%80%99s-worst-fears-have-been-realized-and-his-remarkable-and-unique

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