Date: January 17, 1961
Location: White House
In three days, after half a century of service to the United States, I will step down from public office as the authority of the President is vested in a traditional solemn ceremony to my successor.
Our present date is a decade from the midpoint of this century, a century that has experienced four major wars between the great Powers, three of which our own country has been involved. Despite these massive war disasters, the United States today is the most powerful, influential, and productive nation in the world. We are naturally proud of this remarkable achievement, but we also realize that America's leadership and prestige depend not only on our unparalleled material progress, wealth, and military might, but also on how we use our power for world peace and human welfare. Throughout the United States' exploration of the system of free government, our basic purpose has always been to maintain peace, promote human progress, enhance the right to freedom among people and between nations, enhance dignity, and promote the quality of integrity. Pursuing lower goals would be an insult to a free, religiously religious people. Any failure due to arrogance or lack of understanding or lack of dedication will cause us serious damage at home and abroad.
The process towards those noble goals has been threatened by the conflicts that are now sweeping the globe. This conflict compels us to concentrate and give our all. We are confronted with a hostile ideology of cosmopolitan scale and atheism, with cruel targets and insidious means. Unfortunately, the dangers it poses will persist for a long time. Successfully confronting it requires not so much a momentary emotional anguish at a critical juncture as a sacrifice to enable us to take on the heavy responsibility of a long and complex struggle—to coexist with freedom—with determination and steadfastness. Only in this way can we overcome one provocation after another and always move in the direction of lasting peace in the world and a better future for mankind.
Our military is an indispensable element in the maintenance of peace. Our armed forces must be strong and ready to act so that no potential aggressor would dare to rush to the pebble. Our military organization today is very different from what any of my peacetime predecessors knew, and from those known to the military personnel of World War II or the Korean War. Until the last worldwide conflict, the United States had no military industry. American plow makers can also make swords when necessary. But now we can no longer take the risk of national defense in the form of a sharpened gun; we have been forced to create a permanent military industry on a large scale. In addition, 3.5 million men and women serve directly in defense agencies. Our annual expenditure on military security exceeds the net income of all U.S. companies. The combination of a large army and a large military industry is unprecedented in the United States. Its full impact—economic, political, even spiritual—can be felt in every city, in every state capitol, in every federal government agency. We recognize that such developments are absolutely necessary, but we should not lose sight of its significant implications. It involves our people, resources, lives, and even the structure of our society. In all branches of government, we must be wary of the military-industrial complex acquiring influence that cannot be justified, whether it pursues it or not. The possibility of a vicious increase in extremely inappropriate power is and will continue to exist.
The technological revolution of recent decades has similarities with and has played a great role in the great changes in our industrial-military situation. In this technological revolution, research has become more centralized; it has also become more formal, more complex, and more expensive. The share of research work implemented for the federal government, carried out by the federal government, or under the direction of the federal government is gradually increasing. The prospect of a situation of domination of national academics by the employment of the Federal Government, as well as the uniform distribution of projects and unified control of financial resources, has always existed and should be of serious concern. We should respect scientific research and exploration, but at the same time we must remain vigilant against the equally serious negative danger that government policy itself could be reduced to a prisoner of the scientific-tech elite. The task of the ruler is to shape, balance and integrate these and other old and new forces within the principles of our democratic system—always to achieve the highest goals of our free society.
Another factor that maintains balance involves the element of time. As we look to the future of society, we — you, me and my Government — must avoid an impulse to focus on today's lives and not to plunder tomorrow's precious resources for our own comfort and convenience. We cannot mortgage the material wealth of our grandchildren without risking their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to be passed on from generation to generation, and it should not be the ghost of tomorrow's inability to repay debts.
Looking ahead to the long history to be written, the United States knows that our smaller and smaller world should not become a terrible group of fears and hatreds, but rather a glorious alliance of mutual trust and respect. Such an alliance must be an alliance of equal nations. The weakest nations must come to the table with the same self-confidence as we do, protected by our moral, economic and military might as much as we do. Although the conference table has left the scars of historical ups and downs, we cannot abandon it in exchange for the tragedy of the battlefield.
Disarmament with mutual respect and trust remains an urgent task. Together, we must learn how to resolve disputes not by force, but with rational and just intentions. Because the urgency of disarmament is so evident, I confess that I have stepped down from my presidency with a certain sense of disappointment. As a person who has witnessed the horrors of war and its incurable wounds — knowing that another war will completely destroy a human civilization that has been slowly and painstakingly built over thousands of years — I wish I could say tonight that lasting peace is in sight. Fortunately, I can say that war has been avoided. Solid steps have been taken towards our ultimate goal. But there is still a long way to go. As an ordinary citizen, I will unswervingly contribute to moving the world along this path.
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