my thoughts on each of these quotes

• “We have arrived at that point, my friends, when war does not present the possibility of victory or defeat. War would present to us only the alternative in degrees of destruction.”-- 1954


This was at the height of the Cold War. War meant Mutually Assured Destruction for both sides and any country that happened to be downrange. His words couldn't have been more true. Think about the alternative degrees of destruction part though. IMO had we not spent so much on Defense spending war from the Soviet Union would have been inevitable. Think about the alternative degree of destruction we would have faced had we not been prepared to meet the soviets on the battlefield or return destruction to their cities. MAD wasn't a great alternative, but it was certainly better than anything else at the time. The fact that it worked to keep our cities from being burned to the ground cannot be ignored.

• “We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United State corporations. 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. . . . 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.”-- Farewell address, 1/17/61

Yes there were grave implications, but he didn't say they weren't necessary. I think Ike had a healthily balanced point of view.

• “The problem in defense is how far you can go without destroying from within what you are trying to defend from without.”

Very good quote, and I think this one unlike the above quotes has very real implications in this day. I am uncomfortable with the USAPATRIOT act as are many conservatives like me. Its hard to know how much leash to give the government without giving them enough to hang us all. I personally think they've been given too much with the Patriot Act.

• “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.”-- Farewell address, 1/17/61

Another excellent quote. Likewise our military today bares little resemblence to Ike's in '61. Until 9/11 it wasn't comprehended by Americans that so few could wage such destruction on the US citizens. Not only has the military changed from Ike's day but the threat has too. The armed forces of supernations like the USSR are no longer a great big blip on the radar screen. Now we are worried about groups of terrorists no larger than a platoon or even squad.

• “There is no way in which a country can satisfy the craving for absolute security, but it can bankrupt itself morally and economically in attempting to reach that illusory goal through arms alone.”


I agree, but it is not bad to demand a reasonable amount of security without bankrupting us morally or economically.


• “If all that Americans want is security, they can go to prison. They'll have enough to eat, a bed and a roof over their heads”-- as president of Colombia University, 12/8/49

• “May we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion.”

A very good point. Let us also not confuse disloyal subversion with honest dissent. The American Taliban (more appropriatly titled American Al Qaueda IMO) got off way to easy with 20 years in prison. I thought the evidence against John Walker Lindh was more than enough for the government to disregard plea agreements. So why the plea agreement? Sentiment from the left and the media? I think so.


In 1955 Eisenhower had his opportunity to wage preemptive war against Communist China after China invaded some islands near Taiwan (Formosa). Congress gave Eisenhower approval to attack China at the time and place of his choosing. Instead of attacking, Eisenhower sent his ambassador, John Foster Dulles, to Europe to gain support for a war; but Churchill refused, and so did NATO. If we went it alone, Pentagon officials assured Eisenhower that we could destroy China’s military capability within three weeks.

So, what did Eisenhower do? Did he bribe together a “coalition of the willing”, start handing out no-bid contracts, and mobilize the military? No, Eisenhower called together his top advisors and told them to find a diplomatic solution—which they did. There was no war.


Great, it shows Ike's self control and that diplomacy can work in some situations. What about those situations when diplomacy doesn't work? Afghanistan was one such case. I would even go so far as to say Iraq was as well, though I know many here will disagree with me. I don't mind the disagreement, because I see why they would feel that way and think the discussion is healthy for our nation.


• “A preventive war, to my mind, is an impossibility. I don’t believe there is such a thing, and frankly I wouldn’t even listen to anyone seriously that came in and talked about such a thing.”-- Press conference in 1954


Well, Ike certainly had more experience in the matter than me. Maybe I'm just picking up on the semantics, but aren't all wars preventive wars of some kind. WWII we were preventing the Nazi and Japanese Empire from taking over the free world. Korea and vietnam was to try to prevent the north from taking over the south. the Gulf War was to prevent Iraq from holding Kuwait and attacking Saudi Arabia. Kosovo was to prevent a dictator from commiting more attrocities. Afghanistan was to prevent that country from sheltering a terrorist organization. Iraq was to prevent Saddam from a laundry list of activites from WMD, terrorism, UN resolution violations, to attrocities on his own people.

I assume you mean for Ike's comment to be directed simply at preemptive war. I can see Ike's point, but humbly submit (possibly in my naievete) that he could be wrong.

• “When it comes to the matter of war, there is only one place that I would go, and that is to the Congress of the United States.” --January 1956 [A few months later, he explained]”I am not going to order any troops into anything that can be interpreted as war, until Congress directs it.”

Good point. Don't forget that Bush did go to congress before invading Iraq and got a resolution to use force to bring Saddam into compliance with UN Resolutions. Its unfortunate that all our Presidents haven't been so diligent.

No law says our President has to have been in the military, but such service would certainly make a better President. It would give (him) the perspective that is so lacking in the current flock of Chicken Hawks that are misusing our troops in their ill-conceived plan for world domination.


Not necesarrily a better President. Like all things it comes down to the man. I can think of a lot of Generals who would make lousy Presidents. One such just dropped out of the Democrat Primaries recently. Just because Ike was a good general and a good President does not mean other generals would fit the mold. I think Colin Powell would do fine however, were he to run.

• “Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you're a thousand miles from the corn field.”-- From an address at Peoria, IL 9/25/56 (The same can be said for war.)
So does Forign Policy and Presidencies for that matter

• “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.”-- April 16, 1953


That's a pretty narrow point of view by Ike. What about the money spent on other items such as the Freeway Sytem, or Space Science or Aids research to name a few. Just because it isn't feeding the hungry doesn't mean its not worthwhile.

• “I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity.”

Well said, by a man who was burdened by the weight of thousands of deaths under his command. I have heard nearly an identical statement from most Generals and commanders I have read about.

-Steve G (I like Ike)