User:Alzubaira/sandbox

Our group decided to edit Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Farewell Speech- wikipedia page.

-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farewell_speech

What political topics did it cover After being introduced to Eisenhower’s Farewell Speech, and the topics surrounding it,

we would like to add to the Wikipedia page on his speech. Such articles in class like Noam

Chomsky’s, “The Most Dangerous Moment: 50 years later would have a relation to what

Eisnhower warned the American people about. The article,”The Doctrine of Armed

Exceptionalism” by Hartung would also contribute an interesting perspective his his speech.

The Wikipedia Page about Eisenhower’s Farewell Speech briefly discusses the issues he

speaks of, but could use further enrichment.

Notes :-

Due on the 16th of Feb (For POL 150 C2)

• Military industrial complex and the expanding defense establishment “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex” (From the speech)
• The wikipedia page contends that the president did NOT warn against the corrupting influence if the military complex. We contend  the opposite.” Mentioned in Williams' memo (One of Dwight D speechwriters) of October 31 concerned with the "problem of militarism": ... for the first time in its history, the United States has a permanent war-based industry. . . . Not only that, but flag and general officers retiring at an early age take positions in /a/ war based industrial complex shaping its decisions and guiding the direction of its tremendous thrust. This creates a danger that what the Communists have always said about us may become true. We must be careful to ensure that the "merchants of death do not come to dictate national policy."
  • “The use and abuse of Eisenhower’s Farewell Address, with its warning about the ‘military-industrial complex’”
  • Contradictory Information in the Article:
  • Due to potential bias and conflict of interest, information is not only missing but it is written with the intent to neutralize the power of Eisenhower’s speech against MIC. Jay Nordlinger, the source of information that is cited as the purpose of Eisenhower’s message,  is a senior editor at the National Review, which is a magazine associated with a far right bias and owned by Jack Fowler, who’s magazine leans towards if not openly supports the current military defense which is currently strongly being criticized as being a corrupt military industry. This  gives the citation an alternative motive, which is to destabilize the Eisenhower warning of an industrialized military.  It contradicts the entire purpose and theme of Eisenhower’s speech, as proved by primary documents.
  • See the wikipedia statement below.
  • http://www.nationalreview.com/author/jay-nordlingerJay
  • Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/378938/ike-weapon-jay-nordlinger
  • = Editing Conservatism: How National Review Magazine Framed and Mobilized a Political Movement (http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15205430701791030) =

21/02/2017

For the Edit, we need to translate our notes to a written body paragraph amending the the following existent paragraph in the wiki page. (The underlined is the core issues with this paragraph)

(The only general to be elected president in the 20th century, he famously warned the nation about the potentially corrupting influence of the "military-industrial complex". This is frequently mischaracterized as a criticism of the arms industry, which it was not.[7] He in fact declared such an industry to be necessary. His concern was of its potential for corruption:)

Edit :-

Despite being a politician with a military background and the only general to be elected president in the 20th century, he famously warned the nation with regards to the corrupting influence of what he describes as the "military-industrial complex". Characterizing it as a "potential enemy of the national interest" at a times and an "unjustified expenditure" ; Eisenhower viewed the military-industrial complex to be "nothing more than a distorted use of the nation's resources."

Primary resources :-

Excerpts from NSC 68, A Report to the National Security Council, 1950 ,

https://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/coldwar/documents/pdf/10-1.pdf

Charles J. G. Griffin 1992 New Light on Eisenhower's Farewell Address

http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/27550991.pdf

Secondary resources :-

Ledbetter, James 2011 Unwarranted Influence: Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Military Industrial Complex

http://lib.myilibrary.com.ezproxy1.library.arizona.edu/ProductDetail.aspx?id=309623