A video clip of Eisenhower expressing concern about the rising military-industrial complex circulates on the web intermittently ..... but this is the whole speech. Its worth listening to CAREFULLY, as he also describes a larger landscape - one were still living in today. Eisenhower was an important, bedrock solid figure - commanding general of the U.S. military in Europe in World War II, president for eight years at the height of the Cold War. During his presidency, besides Russia, he had to deal with a powerful, active U.S. faction that wanted to launch a preemptive nuclear strike against Russia - even though this could also result in tens of millions of American casualties. This by the way was the situation John F Kennedy inherited, and dealt with it masterfully. But it was something that really could have gone either way. In the meantime however, Eisenhowers speech is not just about the military industrial complex. He lays out a range of challenges to our American democracy, ones that persist in their basic form even today. We sometimes feel overwhelmed and at a loss to understand our political situation, or know what to do. Great leaders have an ability to formulate these things, to describe the patterns and architecture lying beneath the many details. We can be grateful, and learn something important from Eisenhowers characterization of four or five of the main challenges facing America in this general period of history.
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 19:17:48 +0000
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