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Eisenhower的总统告别演讲
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Eisenhower的总统告别演讲
2007.3.23
Eisenhower在1961年1月17日发表的总统告别演讲，常常被人称为The Military-Industrial Complex演讲。其中第四部分特别提到了希望美国未来的政治家能够正确处理和平衡军事工业集团可能对政府产生的影响。这一部分演讲的内容如下（抱歉我没有时间将其翻译成中文）。
我个人认为Eisenhower的这个总统告别演讲，以及他在1953年春的那个''The Chance for Peace"演讲，是20世纪后半叶历史中最重要的两份文献。
"A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction.
Our military organization today bears little relation to that known by any of my predecessors in peace time, or indeed by the fighting men of World War II or Korea.
Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations.
This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence-economic, political, even spiritual-is felt in every city, every state house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.
Akin to, and largely responsible for the sweeping changes in our industrial-military posture, has been the technological revolution during recent decades.
In this revolution, research has become central; it also becomes more formalized, complex, and costly. A steadily increasing share is conducted for, by, or at the direction of, the Federal government.
Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been over shadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers.
The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present and is gravely to be regarded.
Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite.
It is the task of statesmanship to mold, to balance, and to integrate these and other forces, new and old, within the principles of our democratic system-ever aiming toward the supreme goals of our free society."
Eisenhower的总统告别演讲全文： http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/farewell.htm
世界不能在疯狂中被毁灭
1964年Stanley Kubrick的电影Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb才是真正有趣的东西。可以说没有一部电影比它更有趣。
世界不能在疯狂中被毁灭。要知道冷战有多疯狂同时又多么可笑，以及理解Eisenhower的两个讲话，不能不看这部电影。
故事很简单。Fluorinated water本来是保护牙齿的东西，但疯狂的空军准将Ripper却认为是共产主义这用来毒害美国人民的诡计，结果私自下令手下掌管的战略空军部队对前苏联进行核攻击，虽然美苏两国极力阻止，但美军英勇而尽责的战略轰炸机机长Kong少校排除艰险，顺利完成任务，于是导致世界彻底毁灭。
Dr. Strangelove 的电影资料请见：http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057012/
https://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-176-808.html
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