If only this were true today...Dwight D. Eisenhower, 11/4/1954

[tnlefty]

"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are are stupid."

Strange times, eh?

[iamjoy]

1. Well, Who Sits In Our White House Now

Texas oil millionaire. No wonder.

[acmejack]

2. Eisenhower was prescient!

The famous beware the military-industrial complex!
http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~hst306/documents/indust.html

[punpirate]

3. Eisenhower was wrong...

... the fact that it's happening now and that that party is getting enough of the vote to get close enough to steal elections is proof of that.

BTW, Eisenhower bitched about the M-I complex at the end of his eight years--just as he was leaving. And in his eight years, after Korean War spending was complete, the defense budget never went down to pre-Korean War levels. It remained high throughout his term of office and he did virtually nothing to bring it down. His Secretary of Defense, Charles E. Wilson, set up the system where the government subsidized the manufacturing capacity of defense contractors--essentially, putting them on a permanent war production footing. In fact, as the 1957-8 recession loomed, it was Eisenhower who recommended increasing defense spending to bring the country out of a mild recession.

Eisenhower publicly spoke against military action but he and Allen Dulles used the secret paramilitary side of the CIA to overthrow democratically-elected governments around the world to aid US corporations.

All Eisenhower had to do to fix that problem was to start vetoing excessive military appropriation bills, something he never did.

Sorry, to me, just another Republican with a good line for the public and an agenda which made the industrialists and the military happy.

[tnlefty]

4. True. The quote that i posted just seemed to reaffirm to me that

we're living in bizarro world - just in light of what is happening and that they've had support. If only they'd be relegated to the dustbin of history.

edit spelling

[punpirate]

5. Sometimes, I wish...

... Eisenhower were around to comment. He commanded quite a bit of respect with the public, because of WWII. I found some old, old NYT stories about the troubles Kennedy was having with the military, and at one point, Kennedy and Eisenhower shared a ride on a helicopter back from Sam Rayburn's funeral, and they were seen talking after disembarking. Four days later, Walter Cronkite had an exclusive interview with Eisenhower which Eisenhower spending chiding the military for political proselytizing while in uniform.

I think Eisenhower did not use the great weight of his reputation in the ways he could have. He thought he could emasculate McCarthy and that that would take care of the problem. It didn't.

I don't think he ever understood the depth of the problems brewing under the radar during his watch.

Cheers.