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Unwarranted Influence
Title: Unwarranted Influence: Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Military-Industrial Complex
Author: James Ledbetter
Publisher: Yale University Press
Type: Non Fiction
Released: January 17, 2011
Length: 280 pages
On January 17, 1961 Dwight D. Eisenhower made his last speech as President. In his remarks, he warned America of the "military-industrial complex," - the idea that the nation's industrial base and its military were mutually dependent. The country's armaments industry had grown up during World War II and although conflicts had come and gone since the war's end in 1945, military spending had continued to accelerate through Eisenhower's term in office. And his successor, John F. Kennedy, had pledged to increase it. Today, depending on how you count the numbers, the U.S. spends about one trillion dollars a year on defense, according to James Ledbetter, editor at Reuters.com. In his new book, Unwarranted Influence: Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Military-Industrial Complex, Ledbetter analyzes Eisenhower's speech and looks at what it meant at the time, and today.
- Read the fourth chapter Read more
- Listen to the Marketplace interview Listen now
- Unwarranted Influence: Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Military-Industrial Complex on Amazon Buy it Now
I've always wondered how the MIC companies evaluate the effectiveness of their advertising when in reality there are only about 500 people on the planet that can legally buy their products.
I'd think that PR -- i.e. building public relationships -- would be much more effective.
One element of this story that I had not heard was that Eisenhower was upset with Congressional Democrats. Some years ago, I heard that the original speech warned of the Military Industrial (Congressional) Complex. President Eisenhower was dissuaded by his advisors from including Congress in his warning. As time has proved, the military-industrial complex (MIC) would not exist in the current form without unwarranted funding from Congress. Congressional members survive with the money received from the MIC and other large wallets.
That is why the MIC members spread the manufacturing of products to as many congressional districts as is feasible; to vote against jobs is political suicide. To have the manufacture of a product in a small geographical area makes sense from a logistical standpoint. The only reason companies are scattering production components throughout the country is that any one district’s representative or senator would never vote to eliminate jobs. It is no wonder that congressional members push to fund weapons the Pentagon does not want.
http://ofpeaceandpolitics.wordpress.com/2010/05/18/pentagon-vs-congress-...
Two prior postings bring out the purpose of appealing to the public’s fear; it is effective. Pharmaceutical companies’ profits have skyrocketed since starting an advertising push aimed at the general population. Doctors have condemned this approach. Patients now come into doctors offices asking for a specific drug to cure what the patient “thinks†might be a problem. That is why the ads tell prospective patients that they, “might,†need their product and to, “ask your doctor.†In many industrial countries, advertising of this type is not allowed.
A strong, effective military is what our country needs, not a profit center based upon killing each other. War is wasteful. When a bomb explodes, there is no financial multiplier as there is when a dollar is spent making a consumable product. We long ago left the world of muskets and cannons. Thermonuclear is the new reality. Humans will not survive if we do not change this direction. Then what will be the value of all these munitions? Let’s figure out a way of making a profit center out of peace.
At the end of the radio interview, Mr. Ledbetter identified "the mind[s] of the people" as the only group independent of the military-industrial complex. I would posit that they, too, are part of the MIC; people want jobs, and in many places the jobs come from military contracts. If you're forced to choose between a job making widgets for missiles or starving, your political process is pretty much entirely subsumed by the MIC.
When the author mentions that the advertising industry is what was mostly the focus of Ike's ire,
the facts are that not only did the USA covet scientists from Germany after WW II, we took the Nazi party's playbook on public relations to build the post war American dream.
The documentary " The Ad and the Ego " chronicles the way consumerism is at the heart of Mr. Ledbetter's thesis in my opinion.
