The Permanent War

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Militarism and the American way of life

It's no secret that the "military-industrial complex" represents one of the most powerful forces in American economic and political life. What is less talked about is just how dependent on the war machine we have become. Approximately six percent of the U.S. workforce is employed or supported directly by companies or government agencies in the business of preparing for war -- as soldiers, civilian professionals, factory workers, and military retirees. That is to say nothing of the countless others supported indirectly by this juggernaut in restaurants, retail stores, schools, and other services in communities across the country. In this essay Michael Fitzgerald examines how we got here. -- The Editors

It's tempting to believe that a change in which political party is in power could bring about a major change in U.S. foreign policy. But it isn't really so. The problem isn't in the White House or Congress; it's structural, built into our economy. The fact is, there are just too many people in the United States who are dependent on war for their livelihoods. I was once one of them: My father helped kill children in Vietnam in order to feed his own kids.

Being from working-class Boston, my father was a registered Democrat. And Democrats can be just as hawkish as -- often more so than -- Republicans. My father wanted to nuke Vietnam.

To be considered "electable," Democrats have to appease the large number of voters who depend on war for a living. Some of the most pro-war presidents have been Democrats. Woodrow Wilson presided over wholesale imprisonment of citizens who opposed U.S. entry into a war that he had solemnly promised to keep Americans out of. Harry S. Truman made the decision -- many say the unnecessary decision -- to drop the atomic bomb on Japan. John F. Kennedy essentially won the 1960 election because he "outhawked" Richard Nixon. And Lyndon B. Johnson -- who beat Barry Goldwater by labeling him a "warmonger" -- turned out be hawkish himself.

Or take Dwight D. Eisenhower: He was a career military man, not to mention the supreme Allied commander of the European theater during World War II. You would expect him to be in favor of handouts to the military. Yet he made several valiant attempts to rein in bloated military budgets. For an army commander and a Republican, he said some pretty remarkable things. He opposed Truman's dropping "the big one" on Japan. In his 1961 farewell speech he warned of what he termed the military-industrial complex, adding, "The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power [by this unseen force] exists and will persist." Who would know better than the outgoing president and a five-star general about the dangers of an "iron triangle" of defense contractors, politicians, and the military?

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