“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower
“A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower
“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. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. 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.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower
is’nt that one of the sob s that fired on the bonus army
Hey ojr! Yes, he was part of that. Still, the quotes above were about 30 years after the Bonus Army event; I can’t help but think that he may have wised up as the decades rolled by. The experience of WWII probably was a big part of that. Additionally, there are some intriguing speculations concerning the Gary Powers U2 shoot down. Eisenhower and USSR leader Khrushchev had planned a summit meeting to discuss winding down the cold war between the US and the USSR. The U2 shoot down occurred just a short time before the meeting was scheduled and derailed any chance of an agreement. It is very possible that the U2 flight was not only unauthorized by Eisenhower, but was done without his knowledge and in such a way that the plane would be shot down — thus continuing the stream of money going into the military industrial complex. That event may have been the final push to solidify Eisenhower’s opinion.
Of course I could be wrong. He may have been just spouting quotes that he thought sounded good. Either way, regardless of how sincere he was in his quotes, they seem like good ideas to me!
History repeats, did you read this week where the military is asking for bonus money plus interest back from those who served in recent years and received a sign-up bonus? Wonder if they will shoot them if they don’t comply.