Malcolm Moos

Transcription

I come to you with a message of leave-taking and farewell. The speech did not get very much attention. When a new president is coming to power, as John Kennedy was, the spotlight was not on Dwight Eisenhower. We have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. There was a feeling at the time that this must have been written by some speech writer who just sneaked it into the speech. In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. About three months ago we got contacted by a family up in Minnesota saying that we have documents from Malcolm Moos. He was responsible in part for drafting the “military-industrial complex” speech. These new papers give us written evidence that this was not just some caprice of Eisenhower’s or something by some speech writer. You see the evolution of the speech, from May 1959 to 1961. And he wanted to give this speech for a long time, two years. Our military organization today bears little relation to that known of any of my predecessors in peacetime, or, indeed, by the fighting men of World II or Korea. There was one person in Dwight Eisenhower’s life whom he really confided almost everything to and that was his brother Milton. There’s one particular document where the speechwriters had already drafted their version of his speech only to see Milton come along and totally revamp what had already been written. When Milton Eisenhower was taking notes and writing things on the drafts of these speeches the speech writers knew that it wasn’t Milton talking, it was Ike. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. He would see magazines with advertisements for some, you know, new warplane or some bomb, and he got so angry he’d take the magazine and throw it into the fireplace of the Oval Office. Because he felt that defense spending should not be something that would be encouraged by companies who are seeking commercial gain. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. There is an interesting document. It shows that the farewell speech would be made to Congress. But yet President Eisenhower decided, no, he was going to address the people. 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. One test of how well a president speaks is how long the speech lives. Here we are 50 years later, we’re still talking about this speech. Now, on Friday noon, I am to become a private citizen. I am proud to do so. I look forward to it. Thank you, and good night.