Fifty Years after Ike's Farewell

Fifty years ago today, on January 17, 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivered a televised Farewell Address to the nation, one that is recalled significantly for its introduction into political discourse of the phrase, "the military-industrial complex."

The Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum provides online access to the entire address (including an audio recording), and to many additional documents that are related to its preparation and to its subsequent reception over a period lasting to the present era.

On January 19, 1966, for instance, a statement was entered into the Congressional Record that was entitled, "Statement on Fifth Anniversary of President Eisenhower's Farewell Address by Special Committee on the Military-Industrial Complex of the American Veterans Committee [PDF]." The speech, it is noted, was "wholeheartedly" endorsed by the Committee, who intended "to use its energy and resources to study the military-industrial complex in its many manifestations for the Nation."

Image source: Farewell address by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, January 17, 1961; Final TV Talk 1/17/61 (Page 15), Box 38, Speech Series, Papers of Dwight D. Eisenhower as President, 1953-61, Eisenhower Library; National Archives and Records Administration.