Our military organization today bears little relation to that
known by any of my predecessors in peacetime, or indeed by the
fighting men of World War II or Korea.
Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no
armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time
and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk
emergency improvisation of national defense: we have been compelled
to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added
to this, three and a half million men and women are directly
engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military
security more than the net income of all United States
corporations.
The conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large
arms industry is new in the American experience. The total
influence - economic, political, even spiritual - is felt in every
city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We
recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not
fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and
livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our
society.
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 persists.
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 formalised, 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 electronics
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.
It is the task of statesmanship to mold, to balance, and to
integrate these and other forces, new and old, within the
principles of our democratic system - ever aiming toward the
supreme goals of our free society.
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good exercise for the fingers! 