Eisenhower Farewell Address (Best Quality) - 'Military Industrial Complex' WARNING

8:41 - Ike's warning about the "unwarranted influence... by the Military-Industrial Complex".
Speech date: January 17, 1961

All other versions of this video that I have seen have scratchy audio or bad video, so I decided to put together this one with the best quality of both.

[Edit Dec15,2019: reordering of text in the description, with the timejump link now presented at the beginning.]

[SwatBeatsOfficial]

This wasn't a speech, this was a prophecy.

[iramoser]

We did not listen, and now we're paying for it.

[christripodi]

Only a man who has seen the destruction of war could have said something to this affect

[destroyrebuild]

This was 1961. No one listened, and they still don't.

[mattn]

why does everyone focus on only the Military Industrial Complex aspect of his speech? He said so many equally important things - like 1) avoiding the temptation to live for today and not plunder todays natural resources at the expense of future generations, and 2) the danger of becoming the captive of a technological elite (e.g. google, twitter, facebook, etc)

[austinm]

One of the most important speeches in American history.

[tyroneedmond]

It's 2024 I'm listening to the greatest speech in American history!!!

[SpitefulGoose]

It’s so crazy that a 5 star general who trained tankers for ww1, was a military advisor with Gen. MacArthur in the Philippines in 1935, and who commanded forces and fought in ww2 in the European front would say as the final address to the American public to beware of the military industrial complex spending.
He was a lifer in the US military until he became president, and despite being apart and even leading the US military, his final farewell to the American public was a prophecy warning us that the military spending will increase and become completely out of control. And this was when patriotism, trust in the government, and support of our nation was still at its highest it’s ever been as a whole.
Our country is run by people who have never seen the horrors that Eisenhower experienced in his lifetime and for a 5 star general to essentially go against any brainwashing or propaganda he’s experienced in his war filled lifetime really says something.
He experienced first hand what it was like to send young men, essentially kids 18-20 year olds, to their deaths too many times and saw the warning signs of going to war for reasons that were much less valid than the Japanese attacking American soil in ww2. Every conflict America has been in since ww2 has been proxy wars to avoid an official declaration of war directly against our enemy or their ideologies i.e. stopping communism by the Russians in Korea and Vietnam, and for war profiteering.
Which by the way it was all war profiteering since why would we care about the spread of communism in south east Asia at all? We sent thousands of unwilling, conscripted young men to fight in an unfamiliar territory against guerrillas who were very familiar with their own territory and who were fighting for their homeland, the same way the Americans fought the most powerful military force in the world- the British in the American revolution. First of all how do we not learn from our own history and the guerrilla tactics swamp fox implemented that made it possible for non militarily trained or experienced men to defeat the most powerful military in the world at that time?

So Eisenhower knew that this was coming and I bet that if he saw the scope of how much it’s gotten out of control today, he would roll over in his grave many times over. America has now put itself in a position where we have to get involved with any conflict that is really none of our business at the expense of us taxpayers. And with barely any reciprocation from the countries we provide support to. While we Americans sit here with insane inflation, food shortages, and overpriced healthcare, we still send billions of dollars to foreign countries before we attempt to assist the American public. And the best part is a lot of those countries we send support to still dislike American citizens and think we try to be the world police, and they’re right about that aspect since we make all the worlds problems our own. I mean we’re being clowned on so hard but yet we still send so much money and aid.
Eisenhower was great for essentially speaking out to the public against the mafia that is the American government and I’m shocked that the government hasn’t censored and erased this speech from history

[christopherepperson]

"Those with Freedom also understand it's heavy responsibility."
Oh boy does that sting to some.

[joeltrefethren]

Look at his body language, and his eyes. He is telling the truth. He believes every word he is saying.

[BoudewijnvanHouten]

If someone like Eisenhower, a conservative and a former top ranking military man, finds it necessary to explicitly warn against the power of the military industrial complex, there had to be be something serious wrong in the land of the free at that time. I think it didn't turn for the good in the following decades. Why is it so hard to get a decent and integer man or woman at the head of the Federal Administration nowadays? Somebody that's humble enough to understand that his first responsibility as the highest ranking public official is to serve the interest of the nation and its people and not to boast his ego or to assure a second term.

[titvngaming]

This should be a requirement to listen to in all public schools

[GrizbyK]

12:15 “...must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate.”

Ike has just successfully predicted Twitter.

[TheMex]

He was ahead of his time and we didn't listen.

[mcmars]

"An alert and knowledgeable citizenry..." "A scientific, technological elite..." "Another war could utterly destroy this civilization..." "The binding force of mutual respect and love..."

[heatherphil]

It's 2021 and this speech gives me chills all over.

[marksmith]

Evey one in America needs to see this. Often, so we don't forget it.

[mattyduncan]

One of the greatest men this country was ever blessed with. He should be added to Mount Rushmore.

[crigsbe]

Today, no politician has the intelligence and expirience of Eisehower. His speach sounds like from another world; a world of hope, strength, responsability and respect for other nations. No personal scandals are present. I can remember those times. They were my happiest days of my youth. I was a 3 grader in Switzerland. Today I learn Japanese to talk to those people, who learn Englisch after Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They dream their American Dream. They are the greatest fans of the USA !

[sleeknub]

I've known about the military-industrial complex part of this speech for many years, but holy shit is the rest of it full of goldmine and goldmine. This man apparently had amazing vision.