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.
Akin to, and largely responsible for the sweeping changes in our industrial-military posture, has been the technological revolution during recent decades.
In this revolution, research has become central; it also becomes more formalized, complex, and costly. A steadily increasing share is conducted for, by, or at the direction of, the Federal government.
Today the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been overshadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers.
The prospect of domination of the nation’s scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present * and is gravely to be regarded.
Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific technological elite.
Another factor in maintaining balance involves the element of time. As we peer into society’s future, we—you and I, and our government—must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.
VI.
Down the long lane of the history yet to be written America knows that this world of ours, ever growing smaller, must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect.
Such a confederation must be one of equals. The weakest must come to the conference table with the same confidence as do we, protected as we are by our moral, economic, and military strength. That table, though scarred by many past frustrations, cannot be abandoned for the certain agony of the battlefield.
Disarmament, with mutual honor and confidence, is a continuing imperative. Together we must learn how to compose differences, not with arms, but with intellect and decent purpose. Because this need is so sharp and apparent I confess that I lay down my official responsibilities in this field with a definite sense of disappointment. As one who has witnessed the horror and the lingering sadness of war—as one who knows that another war could utterly destroy this civilization which has been so slowly and painfully built over thousands of years—I wish I could say tonight that a lasting peace is in sight.
Happily, I can say that war has been avoided. Steady progress toward our ultimate goal has been made. But, so much remains to be done. As a private citizen, I shall never cease to do what little I can to help the world advance along that road.
We pray that peoples of all faiths, all races, all nations, may have their great human needs satisfied; that those now denied opportunity shall come to enjoy it to the full; that all who yearn for freedom may experience its spiritual blessings; that those who have freedom will understand, also, its heavy responsibilities; that all who are insensitive to the needs of others will learn charity; that the scourges of poverty, disease and ignorance will be made to disappear from the earth, and that, in the goodness of time, all peoples will come to live together in a peace guaranteed by the binding force of mutual respect and love.
In his speech on the cost of the cold war* President Eisenhower said:
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.
• The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities.
• It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population.
• It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some 50 miles of concrete highway.
• We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat.
• We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people.
This, I repeat, is the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking.
This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.
* Robert Schlesinger, 2008
Once Upon a Time in the Land of Giants . . . America the Beautiful
Richard G. Lazar and Carôn Caswell Lazar
(published 4/16/09)
Once upon a time, in the then great USA, people could quit jobs and find new ones. They might even have been fired and still readily found new work. When they returned home from the Great Wars I and II, veterans got jobs in industries that made room for them. They also got Post Office and other government jobs. When people got laid off they were usually hired back in short order when business got better.
In those times it was relatively easy to find work nearby to where a person lived. Some companies needed workers so badly that they moved the business to lovely suburban areas where people could not walk across the street to work for another company. Companies made working life more attractive to keep their people in the land of this tale. They offered such benefits as fully paid health care coverage, employee stock options, discount on cars, and even provided company stores where people could buy their company’s products at good savings. In this magical kingdom there was a huge effort to ensure good pensions upon retirement and a verbal agreement that if one was productive, they could have a 20-30 year career with growth in income and promotion from within. It was a secure and safe paradise where people felt a sense of mutual trust and confidence and pride in product and company.
And what do you know? Some companies were so well managed and they treated people with so much respect that there was no need for unions. However, at the earliest days of the 20th century a dark cloud fell over the kingdom’s workers. Maltreatment of both young and old prevailed until halcyon days emerged when good people-management skills were sought and taught, trained and re-trained. In those days of enlightenment some companies committed to providing competent managers for one’s career. Some sought promotion into management of people and quality products. Together well-treated managers and respectful treatment of working people were not uncommon. Oh yes, and product driven companies turned profits and their products were sought around the globe. Cars, refrigerators, dish washers, radios, TVs and other high ticket products were featured by such giants as G.E., G.M., Ford, Chrysler, IBM, 3M, Texas Instruments, Motorola, Singer Sewing Machines, Caterpillar Tractor. Man, it was sweet to see companies hiring more people each month because they were building and selling so many new