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What Was It About The Military-Industrial Complex That Eisenhower Understood and JFK Didn’t?
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Dwight Eisenhower’s final speech as President of The United States of America, is without question, one of the most important speeches of all time.
Not only because it warned us of the perils of the military-industrial complex, but also because it was the first of its kind from a departing head of state.
In a rather perverse way, it was a fuck you to the system.
And while the inclination to laud America’s military commander during the second world war is incredibly tempting, we must never forget that our man signed the order to assassinate Patrice Lumumba, on the 17th of January 1961, three days before handing over to his successor.
But we shouldn’t veer too far away from the topic of this article.
What was it about the military-industrial complex that Eisenhower understood that Kennedy didn’t?
The answers lie in what took place in the immediate aftermath of the second world war.
The United States of America went from a country, which was deeply scarred by its involvement in Europe’s ruinous war in 1914–1918, to a global player which couldn’t get enough of undermining and other countries.