Early Draft of Eisenhower’s Farewell Address Develops His Warning About the Military-Industrial Complex (1960)

Date: c 1960

Original or Replica: Original

Era: The Presidency, The Cold War

Collection: Eisenhower Presidential Library

Citations: Arthur Larson and Malcolm Moos Records, Box 16, Farewell Address (2); NAID #12615023

This December 21, 1960 typescript is an early draft of President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Farewell Address, showing the development of what would become his famous warning about the military-industrial complex. The heavily edited pages reveal the drafting process as Eisenhower and his advisers refined both the language and argument of the speech. The draft begins by praising cooperation between Eisenhower and Congress during his presidency and reflecting on his nearly half-century of public service before turning to the changing relationship between the military, industry, and American democracy.

The draft contrasts America’s traditional military system with the situation created by World War II, the Korean War, and the Cold War. Previously, the United States maintained a relatively small peacetime military and expanded its forces during emergencies. Eisenhower argues that continuing international threats had made this system impossible, requiring the country to maintain millions of defense personnel, enormous military expenditures, and a permanent armaments industry unlike anything that had existed previously in American history.

Eisenhower acknowledges that this defense establishment was necessary but warns that its enormous economic and political power could influence national policy and strategy. The draft already uses the phrase “military-industrial complex” and cautions against allowing any part of it to increase its own power at the expense of civilian authority or the balance necessary to preserve American democracy.

The document is particularly valuable because its handwritten revisions, deletions, and substituted wording allow readers to trace how Eisenhower’s warning evolved before the final address of January 17, 1961. It provides a behind-the-scenes look at the development of one of the most enduring warnings of Eisenhower’s presidency.