I’m prompted to add a footnote to the letter from Carol and Peter Letson that appeared in the April 18 Recorder [“U.S. military spending has become ‘beyond bearable’”]. In their penultimate paragraph, Carol and Peter note President Eisenhower’s warning about the military-industrial complex. It has been suggested, though also debated, that earlier versions of Eisenhower’s January 17, 1961, farewell address to the nation used the term “military-industrial-Congressional complex,” but he was persuaded to drop the last element of that triad to avoid any adverse political responses. Whether that version of the speech is true or not, no less a supporter of the United States military than Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican, was quoted as using the full term “military-industrial-Congressional complex” as recently as 2011 and added the term “iron triangle” to describe the same thing. Congress is the most insidious, pernicious partner in this triangle. Only Congress has the authority and power to appropriate federal funds. Our representatives in Congress need to resist the pressure to perpetuate the status quo and, instead, find ways to reverse the direction of the last 60 years.
Larry Dean
Greenfield