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Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David Eisenhower took office after the main outlines of the Cold War between the United States
and the Soviet Union had had five years in which to take shape. When he left office eight years later,
the United States had assumed a permanent Cold War footing, and both domestic and international policy
were dominated by this fact. The conflict would last almost thirty years more, becoming a test of the
economic capacity of the contending nations to maintain increasingly costly "defense" establishments.
In the end, the Soviet Union broke, disintegrating into a number of independent states, withdrawing its
garrison troops from the buffer zones to which it had clung so tenaciously for almost half a century,
and dismantling its weapons industry. The United States, for its part, was virtually bankrupt. It was
unprepared to compete in international trade, since much of its industrial and scientific energies had
been diverted to serve military needs.
Although Eisenhower was, and remains, one of the most beloved presidents of the twentieth century, it
cannot be said that he seriously attempted to lessen the effects of this conflict. On the contrary, the
stakes were raised much higher during his administrations. The Republican Party became committed to a
vigorous military policy, and abandoned its traditional aversion to American involvement in international
affairs. Most ominously, there was little objection raised when George Washington’s farewell admonition
to avoid entangling alliances was discarded and President Eisenhower’s secretary of state, John Foster
Dulles, constructed regional alliances, often involving governments of dubious stability and little popular
support.
At the conclusion of his second term of office, Dwight Eisenhower retired from public life with honor
and respect. He used the occasion of this retirement to warn the American people of the dangers presented
by the military-industrial-scientific complex that he and his administration had done so much to develop.
In retrospect, his farewell address appears almost prophetic; at the time, however, its message fell upon
deaf ears. His successor not only continued the aggressive policies already initiated, but also raised
the stakes—and costs—of conflict even higher.
In many respects, President Eisenhower’s farewell address is a classic debater’s presentation. What did
Eisenhower consider to be the national goals of the United States, and what were the keys to achieving
them? What dangers do the military-industrial-scientific complex present to the pursuit of these goals?
What did Eisenhower mean by ". . . plundering . . . the precious resources of tomorrow"? Do
you think the situation has changed since Eisenhower’s departure?
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