School for Strategy

Eisenhower's Paradoxical Relationship with the “Military‐Industrial Complex”

“…Although the exact wording cannot be proven to have emerged from staff members' interactions with the NMIC, the paradox, noted by Bell and Brands, still remains. Eisenhower and his staff had endorsed prototypes of the complex, which the president also criticized, a pattern replicated in the speech (Bell 1961; 1963, 6; Brands 1989, 988‐89; Chicago Tribune 1961a; Christian Science Monitor 1961; Goldwater 1962; Lyons and Morton 1961; Perlstein 2001)…”

“…The NMIC originally met under the auspices of the Society of American Military Engineers to “utilize the scientific and engineering manpower of the country” in Chicago (Lyons and Morton 1961, 195). The society invited former Sears president, Robert E. Wood, who had been involved in military procurement for the Panama Canal and two world wars, to preside.…”

“…Wood and Barnett organized the Institute for American Strategy (IAS), in 1957 to ensure ongoing attention to strategic issues between annual NMIC meetings with the financial support of the Smith Richardson Foundation and FPRI's strategic expertise. Two years later the IAS set up a national task force to instruct “private citizens” in the development of an effective Cold War strategy, a goal shared by all these groups, who criticized what they regarded as Eisenhower's ineffectual and overly conciliatory approach to dealing with the Soviet Union ( Chicago Tribune 1959a; Lyons and Morton 1961; Nelson 1959; Strausz‐Hupé 1959; Stringer 1960).…”

“…These organizations performed an important support‐building function for what could only be described as constituent parts of the military‐industrial complex. The White House had thus fostered what the president also vowed to restrain (American Security Council 1960, 1964; American Security Council Foundation 2011c; Center for Strategic and International Studies 2011; Chicago Tribune 1959a; Janson 1965; Kaiser 1999; Kaiser and Chinoy 1999; Lyons and Morton 1961; National Strategy Information Center 2011; Strausz‐Hupé et al 1959; Sulzberger 1959).…”

“…In their view, the ASC publication, American Strategy for the Nuclear Age , containing essays by Albert Wohlstetter, Strausz‐Hupé, Barnett, and Kissinger, constituted the “master curriculum” for what could become a propaganda campaign for preventative war. Although official Pentagon sponsorship ended after a protest by Senator William Fulbright and a directive by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, these reports contributed to the horrified fascination in the media with the so‐called rampageous right to which Bell's The Radical Right contributed (Becker 1961; Bell 1963; Chicago Tribune 1960; Clayton 1961a, 1961b, 1961c; Christian Science Monitor 1961; Garwood 1961; Hahn and Neff 1960; Knowles 1961; Los Angeles Times 1961b; Lyons and Morton 1961, 102, 104‐05; New York Times 1961c; Phillips 1961c, 1961a, 1961b; Washington Post 1961a, 1961b). Eisenhower's speech became interpreted as part of this emerging critique of ultraconservative and increasingly vocal advocates of military victory over the Soviet Union for whom Barry Goldwater was becoming the most prominent spokesman.…”