The Cato Institute held a forum in honor of the 50th anniversary of President Dwight Eisenhower’s farewell address in which he spoke to about the military-industrial complex. President Eisenhower’s granddaughter Susan Eisenhower made opening remarks about the discovery of new materials related to the address and said that the issues raised in the speech are still relevant. Then a panel of former government officials talked about relations between the civilian sector and the military, and ways the relationship had changed since President Eisenhower’s time. After their discussion panelists answered questions from audience members.
“The Wars Within: Thoughts on the State of Civil-Military Relations in 2011” was the first panel of the Cato Institute program on January 13, 2011, “The Military-Industrial Complex at 50: Assessing the Meaning and Impact of Eisenhower’s Farewell Address.”