Eisenhower's Farewell Address Jan 17, 1961 Pt 1

[RRNYC1998]

Eisenhower was senile when he made this speech.

[K405AD]

Thank you for posting. I think investment in the military is simply a necessity. The resources channeled to the military by the US government tend to be used as tools of deterrence rather than aggression. Military funding, has in many instances improved civilian living (i.e. Radar development during WW2; the internet - ARPA research, etc). The problem arises when these tools are used for political purposes. I think the most recent examples would have to be the war in Iraq and Falklands.

[MrEmerye]

Ron Paul 2012

[coledurham1992]

why didn't we listen ike? why didn't we

[Saeyabor]

A Ron Paul cultist sent me this and told me to "learn something."

What I learned is that Ron Paul is even more of an idiot than I thought. The "military-industrial complex" is the very abomination Ron Paul wants to aid and abet like Reagan before him, and I resent the implication either of them is fit lick the dirt of Normandy from Ike's boots.

[httm241]

@Saeyabor agreed ron paul is just a wall street puppet. the constitution is just a device used to get the votes from people who dont know any better

[cscarnage]

@Saeyabor Yeah because Ron Paul will really aid the military-industrial complex by bringing troops home around the word. Some of you anti-RP people are so far from reason and logic it's hilarious.

[Saeyabor]

@cscarnage You Paulbots are so far from reason you shouldn't be allowed to say the word. First of all, no President can do anything Congress won't fund, and a military drawdown will have a pricetag. Second, Ron Paul wants to weaken the gov't to further subversion by corporate feudalists, which is already happening, and cancel everything good or necessary the gov't does.

Yea, "END THE FED," and then wonder why the world implodes when there's nothing backing "federal reserve notes."

[cscarnage]

@Saeyabor The Fed is at the heart of your economic problems, destroying it is not "weaking the government" because the Fed is not run by the government.

[Saeyabor]

@cscarnage The Fed is run jointly by Presidential (executive branch... GOVERNMENT!) appointee boards of governors and representatives of private sector banks. The original purpose was to keep supply and demand fairly even. The problem now is too many of those appointees have been part of the industry they're supposed to check and balance. Ron "Supply-Side Jesus" Paul would only exacerbate that, if not do away with what control it still exerts.

[cscarnage]

@Saeyabor The Federal Reserve Act effects a consortium of privately held Jewish & associated banks called the Federal Reserve Bank. The largest shareholders of the Federal Reserve Bank are the Rothschilds of London holding 57% of the stock which is not available for public trading. You can call it whatever you want, but what it is is 9 private banks printing money and loaning it to the government at interest. But i'm sure you have an alternative to RP that will fix the economy, right?

[ipa31618]

all US people 2011 need to listen this. sad but true

[Konicava]

Usually I don't respect religious thought but I'll let this one slide I guess...still religions are stupid lol

[Keegandhi]

The US government needs to start streaming everything from the Library of Congress in HD. All of it is Fair Use, inst it?

[FOCHOO]

my respects to eisenhower eminence

[tequida934]

i think what he said is hapening right now

[thegill666]

fuck the military industrail complex the shadow government that controls the federal government

[Obvioustroller]

Dick cheney disliked this

[Firemerlin86]

"... balance between the clearly necessary and the comfortably desirable..."

*looks around at our frivolous society* Well that went in one ear and out the other didn't it.... >.>

[snavarro2]

now... do u undertand IRAK war???

[lozoft9]

Even though Ike was a segregationist, he outlawed segregation in the Armed Forces. When asked what in the world he was thinking, he said: I answer to the Constitution. That's what I call conviction.

[rgaleny]

I was 5 weeks old when this came out. And when he talks I can't help but think of McCarthyism. He skips it.

[i8hy6e3]

"the consequences of too much government funded research".

[SuperAtlantis1]

As a democrat I really like Ike. He was a great Republican and should be an example to present day Republicans. He is a very low rated President. better than Ronald Reagan.

[joethecabdriver]

Eisenhower was a cautious, pragmatic man of his generation, a calming yet hard to fool elder. His greatest accomplishment as president was to keep the US, exhausted after many years of depression and war, out of a major crisis. The 1950's was bland, conservative era mainly because of this.

[friscob1]

@joethecabdriver Probably the greatest thing you can say about a President is that there isn't much to be remembered from his time in office

[frothywalrus]

this is an amazing speech, it's too bad our country is too lazy, and our congress is to bought for us to undue the damage done by the military industrial complex.

[friscob1]

@frothywalrus The perfect storm for our country to be hijacked. A lazy citizenry who can barely graduate from public high schools and the corporatism at the top who owns everything and everyone.

[WoodlandRavah]

I like Ike!

[brod2man]

Obama has disliked this video, Osama may have liked it

[bushmaster9999able]

sad to say this was the end of free america... glad we built better bombs... but at what cost... we lost the people.. in our times we NEED to rise up and say enough is enough... how much is a life to u????? come on america.. use your sweet bombs on germany where they belong... race mongers

[MetalManDan7]

@bushmaster9999able ...pff to bad you dont use them on yourselves.

[DaSequitur]

Wow, this cuts out the main point. Understanding the external threat but also the new internal threat. The military industrial complex. I do enjoy his use of the word balance in context of maintaining democracy. A point that is getting lost today. Radicals of all kinds, left, right will kill democracy in order to save it. Odd but true.

[pimpcoolyo]

@MarijuanaMichelle joe rogan lol he is so smart

[gregorybgeddings]

The title of the video I recommend below is "Engineering of Consent: Guatemala coup of 1954"

[gregorybgeddings]

Thanks but we should all be aware of one horrible miscalculation that Eisenhower made. That would be the 1954 invasion of Guatemala instigated by a sinister monster named Edward Bernays, the father of public relations. He was acting on behalf of the United Fruit Company who wanted to overthrow a democratically elected govt. I would urge everyone to type in "Edward Bernays Guatemala" in the YT search and view the first video listed. This is really spooky mind control stuff...

[pshaw951]

At 5:09-5:17 foreseeing 9-11 or the use of a tragic event like that to get people behind a reason to go to war?

[Adamalgorithm]

Eisenhower shows how important MERIT and ACHIEVEMENT is for political office. He was not a parvenu and intellectually challenged like Bush and Reagan. He was a real war hero and achiever, truly fit for the highest public office in the land.

[Adamalgorithm]

Eisenhower is the only great modern Republican president and one of the greatest over all. 

[MayorGalvan1956]

The more I learn about former president Dwight D. Eisenhower, the more I realize that he was our last great president here in the USA. The USA has been in decline ever since Dwight D. Eisenhower left office in 1961. Poor USA! China is now #1 thanks to our political prostitute$ and crook$ in Washington, DC (District of Criminal$).

[bartolemeo]

Thank you, Mr. President.

[glv80]

50 years ago today, Ike predicted it all.

[ybnormal1965]

Cuts off, just as he gets to the point

[ybnormal1965]

cuts off, just when he gets to the point!

[ybnormal1965]

cut off, just when he gets to the point!

[samreznek]

It is amazing how prescient Eisenhower is.

[johnbarleycornmd]

As a Democrat, and anti-nuclear protestor for 30 years, I am always moved by Eisenhower's farewell address and his Bermuda speech.

Please do not compare this great leader with Reagan.

That's an insult.

[BoNkErZchloe22]

@johnbarleycornmd is terrorist planing on using nuclear bombs anytime soon?

[johnbarleycornmd]

@BoNkErZchloe22 For the grace of God, let's hope not. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, and let's be fair, even before then, there have been tons of missing materials to build nuclear weapons. The nuclear "club" is less stable, made chillingly most apparent with North Korea's statements this morning.

[johnbarleycornmd]

@BoNkErZchloe22 And, it doesn't have to be a bomb. It could be a dirty bomb. We need to be vigilant, I think, though it would cause a great deal of hysteria, we need to educate people on how to protect themselves from nuclear terrorism. This TED conference is fantastic. Make it viral.

[2cOthers]

A president wanted to improve the lives of ordinary Americans instead of lining the pockets of the super rich multi-national elites

[6packofwallace]

"Promises to be indefinite in duration." Sobering. 

[gregorybgeddings]

The Republicans turned Ronald Reagan into a hero and ignored IKE. RR wasn't enough of a man (or a president) to tie IKE's shoes.

[MetallicaFan035]

@gregorybgeddings I have been saying that forever, Eisenhower is my favorite president ever, a truly brilliant man, Regan was a good man, but not nearly not even closely as competent for the job of presidency as Eisenhower was.

[stevehauk]

@gregorybgeddings Is it true his father was jewish?

[BoNkErZchloe22]

@stevehauk ???

[mralmeister1]

@gregorybgeddings no truer words have been spoken.

[Klaus1386]

@gregorybgeddings Ike was a good man, a hero.. but I think like Woodrow Wilson he understood the horrible mistake he had made but too late.. and this, was his attempt to fix it via Kennedy.

I was born in 86, so.. Ike was downplayed to me, I never witnessed even the Reagan era as I was just a kid.. but as I look back, he looks so annoyed at how he had been played by big business, bless Ike.. we has only a well meaning human, same as Wilson.. but nefarious bastards turned his legacy on its head.

[Vicioussama]

@gregorybgeddings He was also a bad actor who had ideas that ruined our country. Way to go ignorant fools of my country. Way to go to blindly follow a man who wasted our money, deregulated our banks horribly and caused serious problems in his own time and even decades beyond his time.. what's even funnier is that Republicans politicians today are even FURTHER right wing than Ronald Reagan or even Bush...

[skydome29]

@gregorybgeddings Well he didn't start any wars, he helped end potentially the most dangerous. I agree today's republicans are no where near Ike's party ideology.

[123delzotto]

It disgusts me that only 2,000 people have viewed this

[lilsuzq32]

@123delzotto - at least it's up to close to 4000 now ... still pathetic

[Alien5p]

@123delzotto Well, there are tons of uploads of this on YouTube.

[St0n3dGuRU]

@123delzotto only 26k now...that's still pretty ridiculous

[Lufttygger306]

@123delzotto More like 34,000

[edstar83]

@123delzotto 39,030 people have viewed it now.

[PathofAsh]

@123delzotto A year later, and it's only gotten to about 40,000. I'm disgusted even now.

[makemap]

@123delzotto 41000 going up.

[LoveHeartLogicHead]

I am as sympathetic to heeding warnings of an expanding military-industrial complex as anyone else. I am also aware of the context in which Eisenhower is speaking ie. in a farewell as president.

Beginning at 6:58, he explains the importance of continuing to have a military. He also explains the need for balance and community vigilance. That is the point which everyone (including myself) appreciates. What he doesn't offer is the counter-balance: diplomacy. Investing to understand others.

[LoveHeartLogicHead]

I stand corrected.At around five minutes into part two of zsezse215's upload, he makes a point to meet around the conference table. I had read the speech before coming here to YouTube but I guess I was distracted when reading that part. Posting this 10 minutes after my first comment, I doubt it matters. Nevertheless, my apologies.

A fine speech by Eisenhower. Its easy to say that our leaders have let us down (many times they have) but I think more importantly, we have let ourselves down.

[meev991]

My all time favorite president. I only wish that future administrations had listened to his warning.

[tomrdee]

Our government has done everything that Ike warned us not to do.

[GoldeneyePwner]

Rock on.