Dwight D. Eisenhower tends to be listed as just the 34th president of the United States while looking at a list of all of the presidents. But he was also the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces during World War II, meaning he was not just in charge of American Forces but all of forces fighting for the Allies including the British military forces. He had a long and impressive military career.
But despite this, he was a very strong opponent to the “Military Industrial Complex,” which refers to having a very large military and having “war for profit” mentality, making money off of the lives loss in fighting and everything else that goes with war.
Former President Dwight D. Eisenhower's "Farewell Address" directly references this by stating “[We] must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence….by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.” This danger that he warned the nation about was this possibility of “misplaced power” as a result of following the military-industrial complex.
His more popular quote is found in his “Chance for Peace” speech:
“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 quote is, in my opinion, one of the more powerful quote from Eisenhower because of what it represents and means — the money that is being needlessly used and it is a “theft” from the hungry and the cold. He goes on to list all of what can be made with the money that is being spent on the military: schools, houses, hospitals.
I found out about this quote while attending Roger Waters’ The Wall Live concert at San Jose, California back in December of 2010, it was my first of the two times I went to see the concert live. It was a very powerful moment during the former Pink Floyd Lead Singer’s show because it was during the emotional song “Bring the Boys Back Home.” The quote was shown on the physical wall while images of the horrors of war and hungry/very poor children was the background of each line of the quote. It really showed the message that instead of spending money on the military, which great Military minds like Eisenhower had stated in the past that is unneeded to have a large standing army, it should go to those who actually need it.
Certainly, military spending is about over half of the federal discretionary spending. Military officials have stated that they do not need everything Congress is supplying them with. Just like how President Eisenhower, former Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, stated in his speeches against the military-industrial complex back in the 1950s.
The problems back then are still issues today — this is not saying that military should be cut completely, but just enough to have it so that “our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action” — while avoiding being a “theft” from the hungry and the cold.
