Ike saw through the generals' spending games
Evan Thomas discusses the pressures on President Eisenhower to increase defense spending
Nov 18, 2011
Washington Examiner
November 12, 2011
By: Evan Thomas
As the Obama administration and Congress wrestle with federal spending in the year ahead, it will be argued -- over and over again -- that you cannot cut defense spending without harming national security.
While there is some truth to this argument, it is worth looking back at an earlier president who looked at the problem with a cold eye and a quiet determination not to get fooled by his own advisers.
In the early days of the Cold War, the Russian threat seemed to grow. After getting the atom bomb in 1959, the Soviets built up their nuclear arsenal, while maintaining a huge standing army.
With the launch of the Sputknik satellite in 1957, the Kremlin showed the world it was building intercontinental ballistic missiles that could reach America. Throughout this period, President Eisenhower was under constant pressure, from Congress, from the press, and from many of his own advisers and political allies, to increase defense spending.
But during his two terms in office, Ike resisted, usually successfully. In those days, defense spending accounted for well over half the federal budget (versus less than a quarter today). Eisenhower worried that spending too much on defense would harm national security.
A fiscal conservative, he believed in balanced budgets and warned against what he called "the garrison state," in which citizens gave up their liberties, as well as their money to guard against real or imagined foes.
Eisenhower knew, from experience, how the top brass used worst-case scenarios to frighten their civilian masters into spending more on unnecessary new weapon systems and various pet boondoggles.
His speechwriter, Emmet Hughes, recalled Ike getting worked up during a review of the military budget and telling his advisers, "Look, let me tell you something.
Read more
Nov 18, 2011
Washington Examiner
November 12, 2011
By: Evan Thomas
As the Obama administration and Congress wrestle with federal spending in the year ahead, it will be argued -- over and over again -- that you cannot cut defense spending without harming national security.
While there is some truth to this argument, it is worth looking back at an earlier president who looked at the problem with a cold eye and a quiet determination not to get fooled by his own advisers.
In the early days of the Cold War, the Russian threat seemed to grow. After getting the atom bomb in 1959, the Soviets built up their nuclear arsenal, while maintaining a huge standing army.
With the launch of the Sputknik satellite in 1957, the Kremlin showed the world it was building intercontinental ballistic missiles that could reach America. Throughout this period, President Eisenhower was under constant pressure, from Congress, from the press, and from many of his own advisers and political allies, to increase defense spending.
But during his two terms in office, Ike resisted, usually successfully. In those days, defense spending accounted for well over half the federal budget (versus less than a quarter today). Eisenhower worried that spending too much on defense would harm national security.
A fiscal conservative, he believed in balanced budgets and warned against what he called "the garrison state," in which citizens gave up their liberties, as well as their money to guard against real or imagined foes.
Eisenhower knew, from experience, how the top brass used worst-case scenarios to frighten their civilian masters into spending more on unnecessary new weapon systems and various pet boondoggles.
His speechwriter, Emmet Hughes, recalled Ike getting worked up during a review of the military budget and telling his advisers, "Look, let me tell you something.
Read more