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Unwarranted Influence: DwightD. Eisenhower and the Military-Industrial Complex. By James Ledbetter. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011. x, 268 pp. $26.00, isbn 978-0-300-15305-7.)
In his January 1961 farewell address, President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned a national television audience of the acquisition of unwarranted influence by what he called "the military-industrial complex." In this compact work, James Ledbetter explores the origins and subsequent history of that catchy phrase and the ideas behind it. He argues that although the phrase probably existed in academic and policy discourse before the speech, it was Eisenhower who first brought it before the general public.
The amorphous conceptions behind rhe term, which Eisenhower never strictly defined, had already percolated through intellectual circles for decades. Ledbetter notes that following World War I, many Americans came to believe...