Readings
From the Farewell Message of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1960
Submitted by the Rev. Paul Beedle
“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 alone more than the net income of all United States corporations.
Now this 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. …
"Together we must learn how to compose differences – not with arms, but
with
intellect and decent purpose. … To all the peoples of the world, I once more
give expression to America’s prayerful and continuing aspiration: We pray
that peoples of all faiths, all races, all nations, may have their great
human needs satisfied; that those now denied opportunity shall come to enjoy
it to the full; that all who yearn for freedom may experience its spiritual
blessings, those who have freedom will understand, also, its heavy
responsibility; that all who are insensitive to the needs of others, will
learn charity, and that the scourges of poverty, disease and ignorance will
b
e made to disappear from the earth; and that in the goodness of time, all
peoples will come to live together in a peace guaranteed by the binding force
of mutual respect and love."
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