"My Dear Mr. President," 1939: Radio Broadcast of Interior Secretary Harold Ickes' Annual Report to the President (Part 2)
<h4><a href="https://vmps.omeka.net/exhibits/show/public-service-spoken-word/public-service-spoken-word">Return to Public Service Through the Spoken Word</a></h4>
<p>Photo shows production of the U.S. Department of Interior's radio play "My Dear Mr. President," broadcast on January 8, 1939, the subject of which was the Interior Secretary's annual report to the President (Source: "Not So Free Air," Saturday Evening Post, Feb. 11, 1939)</p>
<p>Part of the Harris & Ewing Collection (Library of Congress)</p>
<p>Part 2- of the recording of the radio broadcast is presented in the attachment "Broadcast 2", which contains segments15 &16 of Interior Secretary's Harrold L. Ickes' Speech. This represents pages 42-46 of the Script, which is also attached. (The rest of the file is unrelated to the Department of Interior’s radio program. Due to the technical limitations, the Virtual Museum was not able to edit the second file to consist solely of parts 15 and 16 of that broadcast.)</p>
<p>Source: The Library of Congress.</p>
<p>Note to Museum Visitor</p>
The attached broadcast recording and the pre-air script are related to an article by Professor Mordecai Lee,<em>“Public Reporting in Public Administration, circa 1939: The Annual Report as Fictional Radio Stories.” </em>The article is forthcoming in Public Voices (2016) Volume XV Number 1.
Harris & Ewing Photographer
https://cdn.loc.gov/service/pnp/hec/25800/25894r.jpg, https://cdn.loc.gov/service/pnp/hec/25900/25900r.jpg
Library of Congress
1939 January
Library of Congress
First Photo: Members of the Cast - My Dear President 1939. <br /><br />From the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. <br /><br />Second photo: From the U.S. Department of the Interior Radio. <br /><br /><a href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Dhj76sYjAivYTP4JBFyB5jUZ3n4aJy-M">Ickes' Report to the President, 1939</a>
Gallery Media: <a href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Dhj76sYjAivYTP4JBFyB5jUZ3n4aJy-M">Script - See pp. 42 to 46</a> <br /><br /><a href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Dhj76sYjAivYTP4JBFyB5jUZ3n4aJy-M"></a>
Medium: Photograph
English
Radio
Radio, Harold Ickes, Department of Interior, Public Reporting, Presidents, Interior Secretary
Historic
"My Dear Mr. President," 1939: Radio Broadcast of Interior Secretary Harold Ickes' Annual Report to the President (Part 1)
<h4><a href="https://vmps.omeka.net/exhibits/show/public-service-spoken-word/public-service-spoken-word">Return to Public Service Through the Spoken Word</a></h4>
<p style="text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;color:#000000;">Photo shows production of the U.S. Department of Interior's radio play "My Dear Mr. President," broadcast on January 8, 1939, the subject of which was the Interior Secretary's annual report to the President (Source: "Not So Free Air," Saturday Evening Post, Feb. 11, 1939)</span></p>
<p></p>
<p style="text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;color:#000000;">The penthouse studio for radio broadcasts on the roof of the Interior Building consisted of reception room, office, script writers' room, small and large studios, and sound control room. These actors are members of the cast for My Dear Mr. President, a play based upon the President's budget message [i.e Interior Secretary's annual report] presented in January 1939 through the channels of the national hookups</span></p>
<p></p>
<p style="text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;color:#000000;">Part of the Harris & Ewing Collection (Library of Congress)</span></p>
<p></p>
<p style="text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;color:#000000;">Part 1- of the recording of the radio broadcast is presented in the attachment "Broadcast", which contains 14 of 16 segments of the broadcast. This represents pages 1-41 of the Script, which is also attached.</span></p>
<p></p>
<p style="text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;color:#000000;">Source: The Library of Congress.</span></p>
<p></p>
<p style="text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;color:#000000;">Note to Museum Visitor</span></p>
<p></p>
<p style="text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;color:#000000;">The attached broadcast recording and the pre-air script are related to an article by Professor Mordecai Lee,<em><span style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Public Reporting in Public Administration, circa 1939: The Annual Report as Fictional Radio Stories.” </span></em>The article is forthcoming in Public Voices (2016) Volume XV Number 1.</span></p>
<p></p>
<p style="text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;color:#000000;"></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;color:#000000;"><br /></span></p>
<p></p>
Harris & Ewing Photographer
https://cdn.loc.gov/service/pnp/hec/25800/25897r.jpg, https://cdn.loc.gov/service/pnp/hec/25800/25891r.jpg
Library of Congress
1939 January
Library of Congress
First photo: Members of the Cast 1939. From the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. <br /><br />Second photo: Members of the Cast for "My Dear Mr. President". Link: <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/hec2009012588/">Library of Congress</a>.<br /><br />Gallery media: <a href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Dhj76sYjAivYTP4JBFyB5jUZ3n4aJy-M">Script - See pp. 1 to 41</a> <br /><br /><a href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Dhj76sYjAivYTP4JBFyB5jUZ3n4aJy-M">My Dear Mr. President Radio Broadcast</a>
<span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;color:#000000;">Follow the link for free access to </span><a href="https://www.academia.edu/38537511/Storytelling_from_Public_Records_Finding_Empathy_in_the_Days_Following_the_2015_Unrest_in_Baltimore_City"><b><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;color:#c51b35;">Public Voices</span></b></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;color:#000000;"> issues</span>
Medium: Photograph
English
Radio
Radio, Harold Ickes, Department of Interior, Public Reporting, Presidents, Interior Secretary, Budget
Historic
FDR'S Fireside Chats
<h4><a href="https://vmps.omeka.net/exhibits/show/public-service-spoken-word/public-service-spoken-word">Return to Public Service Through the Spoken Word</a></h4>
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, commonly referred to as “FDR,”who took executive office in early 1933, would become the only president in American history to be elected to four consecutive terms. FDR would lead the nation through two of the greatest crises in its history—the Great Depression of the 1930s and World War II (1939-45)—and would exponentially expand the role of the federal government through his New Deal reform program and its legacy. From March 1933 to June 1944, Roosevelt addressed the American people in approximately 30 speeches broadcast via radio, speaking on a variety of topics - from banking, to unemployment, to fighting fascism in Europe. Millions of people found comfort and renewed confidence in these speeches, which came to be known as the “fireside chats.”
The fireside chats were a series of evening radio addresses given by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt (known colloquially as "FDR") between 1933 and 1944. Roosevelt spoke with familiarity to millions of Americans about the promulgation of the Emergency Banking Act in response to the banking crisis, the recession, New Deal initiatives, and the course of World War II.
On radio, he was able to quell rumors and explain his policies. His tone and demeanor communicated self-assurance during times of despair and uncertainty. Roosevelt was regarded as an effective communicator on radio, and the fireside chats kept him in high public regard throughout his presidency. The series of chats was among the first 50 recordings made part of the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress, which noted it as an influential series of radio broadcasts in which Roosevelt utilized the media to present his programs and ideas directly to the public and thereby redefined the relationship between President Roosevelt and the American people in 1933.
Unknown
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/72/FDR-March-12-1933.jpg/807px-FDR-March-12-1933.jpg
https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/fireside-chats
National Records and Archives Administration
March 12 1933
National Records and Archives Administration
History.com Editors
National Records and Archives Administration
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fireside_chats">Wikipedia</a><br /><br /><div class="m-detail--citation-meta">
<p><a href="https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/fireside-chats" title="The Fireside Chats - Definition">History.com</a></p>
</div>
<div class="m-detail--citation-meta"></div>
Photograph
English
Communication
FDR, Fireside Chats, Radio, Great Depression, WWII, Historic
United States
Massachusetts Spy
<h4><a href="https://vmps.omeka.net/exhibits/show/public-service-spoken-word/public-service-spoken-word">Return to Public Service through the Spoken Word</a></h4>
The Massachusetts Spy, originally the Worcester Spy, was a newspaper published by Isaiah Thomas in Boston and Worcester, Massachusetts in the 18th century. It was a heavily political weekly paper that was constantly on the verge of being suppressed by the Royalist government, from the time of its establishment in 1770 to 1776, during the runup to the American Revolution. In 1771-1773 the Spy featured the essays of several anonymous political commentators who called themselves "Centinel," "Mucius Scaevola" and "Leonidas." They spoke in the same terms about similar issues, kept Patriot polemics on the front page, and supported each other against attacks in progovernment papers. Rhetorical combat was a Patriot tactic that explained the issues of the day and fostered cohesiveness without advocating outright rebellion. The columnists spoke to the colonists as an independent people tied to Britain only by voluntary legal compact.
Isaiah Thomas and Paul Revere
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/df/Masthead_and_part_of_front_page_of_The_Massachusetts_spy%2C_or%2C_Thomas%27s_Boston_journal_showing_a_female_figure_of_Liberty_in_upper_left_and_rattlesnake_labeled_%22Join_or_Die%22_symbolizing_the_LCCN2002712180.jpg/1024px-thumbnail.jpg
Thomas, Isaiah. “The Massachusetts Spy, May 3, 1775” (1975). Teach US History. Print. Newspaper Article. Accessed on 29, Jun 2020 at < http://www.teachushistory.org/node/333>
Library of Congress
July 7, 1774
Library of Congress
Library of Congress
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts_Spy">Wikipedia</a><br /><br /><p><strong>“The Massachusetts Spy or, American Oracle of Liberty, Worcester, Massachusetts.” <em>Library of Congress</em>. (July 2010). Print. Accessed on 29 Jun, 2020 at https://www.loc.gov/rr/news/circulars/spy.html. </strong></p>
<a href="https://www.loc.gov/rr/news/circulars/spy.html" title="The Massachusetts Spy or, American Oracle of Liberty, Worcester, Massachusetts">Library of Congress (LOC)</a>
Photograph
English
Newspaper
Massachusetts Spy, Massachusetts, Newspaper, American Revolution, Media
United States
State of the Union Address
<h4><a href="https://vmps.omeka.net/exhibits/show/public-service-spoken-word/public-service-spoken-word">Return to Public Service through the Spoken Word</a></h4>
From Wikipedia: The State of the Union Address (sometimes abbreviated to SOTU) is an annual message delivered by the President of the United States to a joint session of the United States Congress at the beginning of each calendar year in office. The message typically includes a budget message and an economic report of the nation, and also allows the President to propose a legislative agenda and national priorities. During most of the country's first century, the President primarily only submitted a written report to Congress. After 1913, Woodrow Wilson, the 28th U.S. President, began the regular practice of delivering the address to Congress in person as a way to rally support for the President's agenda. With the advent of radio and television, the address is now broadcast live across the country on many networks.
George Washington
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Washington_-_State_of_the_Union.djvu/page1-641px-Washington_-_State_of_the_Union.djvu.jpg
Library of Congress
January 8 1791
George Washington
Library of Congress
U.S. Senate
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_the_Union">Wikipedia</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.senate.gov/civics/constitution_item/constitution.htm#a2_sec3" title="Constitution of the United States">U.S Senate [Article II, section 3 of the U.S. Constitution]</a>
Photograph
English
Communication
State of the Union, President, United States, US Congress, Budget, Economy
United States
We choose to go to the Moon
<h4><a href="https://vmps.omeka.net/exhibits/show/public-service-spoken-word/public-service-spoken-word">Return to Public Service through the Spoken Word</a></h4>
"We choose to go to the Moon", officially titled as the Address at Rice University on the Nation's Space Effort, is a speech delivered by United States President John F. Kennedy about the effort to reach the Moon to a large crowd gathered at Rice Stadium in Houston, Texas, on September 12, 1962.
The speech, largely written by Kennedy advisor and speechwriter Ted Sorensen, was intended to persuade the American people to support the Apollo program, the national effort to land a man on the Moon. In his speech, Kennedy characterized space as a new frontier, invoking the pioneer spirit that dominated American folklore. He infused the speech with a sense of urgency and destiny, and emphasized the freedom enjoyed by Americans to choose their destiny rather than have it chosen for them. Although he called for competition with the Soviet Union, Kennedy also proposed making the Moon landing a joint project.
NASA
Today's History
NASA
Today's History.org
September 12 1962
NASA
Today's History
NASA
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
Photograph
English
John F. Kennedy Speech, Moon Landing Project, Apollo Program, JFK Speech made to categorize the Apollo Program as a new frontier, by using a new method of United States pioneering by landing the first man on the moon in history, generating American unity, and freedom for Americans to choose their own destiny, rather than have one chosen for them, even proposing making the Moon landing be a joint project, despite JFK's initial intent to make it a competition against the Soviet Union.
proposed making the Moon landing a joint project.
Moon, JFK, Apollo Program, Space, Speech
United States, John F. Kennedy, The Apollo Program
Tear down this wall!
<h4><a href="https://vmps.omeka.net/exhibits/show/public-service-spoken-word/public-service-spoken-word">Return to Public Service through the Spoken Word</a></h4>
"Tear down this wall", also known as the Berlin Wall Speech, was a speech delivered by United States President Ronald Reagan in West Berlin on June 12, 1987. Reagan called for the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, to open the Berlin Wall, which had separated West and East Berlin since 1961. The name is derived from a key line in the middle of the speech: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" <br /><br />Arriving in Berlin on Friday, June 12, 1987, President and Mrs. Reagan were taken to the Reichstag, where they viewed the wall from a balcony. Reagan then made his speech at the Brandenburg Gate at 2:00 pm, in front of two panes of bulletproof glass. <br /><br />That afternoon, Reagan said, 'We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace. General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev...Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!'
White House Photographic Office
<p>Archives.gov<br />https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2007/summer/berlin.html </p>
<p>ReaganFoundation.org<br />https://www.reaganfoundation.org/programs-events?utm_source=googleads&utm_medium=click&utm_campaign=events&utm_content=response&gclid=CjwKCAjw_qb3BRAVEiwAvwq6Vv5wJ_YB4CNO9elaI6J1WQMY6cjSLCaBI6-v6tCiCmLn5WZz8wRrQBoCxWgQAvD_BwE</p>
Regan Foundation<br />Archives.gov
Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
June 12 1987
White House Photographic Office
Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
Photograph
English
Speech
Freedom, Soviet Union, Reagan, Speech, Berlin Wall
Germany
Barack Obama speech to joint session of Congress, September 2009
<h4><a href="https://vmps.omeka.net/exhibits/show/public-service-spoken-word/public-service-spoken-word">Return to Public Service through the Spoken Word</a></h4>
United States President Barack Obama discussed his plan for health care reform in a speech delivered to a joint session of the 111th United States Congress on September 9, 2009. The speech was delivered to Congress on the floor of the chamber of the United States House of Representatives in the United States Capitol. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi presided over the joint session and was accompanied by the President of the United States Senate, Joe Biden, the Vice President of the United States. Obama's speech addressed topics regarding the public health insurance option, private insurance reform, estimated costs and revenue, basic coverage for individuals and employers, as well as subsidies and waivers for those who can't afford coverage, and the importance of tort reform in bringing costs down.
Lawrence Jackson
THE WHITE HOUSE, Office of the Press Secretary
<p><a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-a-joint-session-congress-health-care"><strong>https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-a-joint-session-congress-health-care</strong></a></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><strong> <br />Politico article published leading up to President Obama’s 2009 joint session speech:<br /></strong></p>
<p><strong>https://www.politico.com/story/2009/09/obama-to-address-congress-on-reform-026700</strong></p>
<p></p>
White House, Office of the Press Secretary
September 9 2009
Lawrence Jackson
THE WHITE HOUSE, Office of the Press Secretary
White House
THE WHITE HOUSE, Office of the Press Secretary
Photograph https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fb/Obama_Health_Care_Speech_to_Joint_Session_of_Congress.jpg/1280px-Obama_Health_Care_Speech_to_Joint_Session_of_Congress.jpg
English
Speech
Healthcare, Healthcare Reform, Obama, Public Health, US Congress, Speech
United States
Lincoln-Douglas debates
<h4><a href="https://vmps.omeka.net/exhibits/show/public-service-spoken-word/public-service-spoken-word">Return to Public Service through the Spoken Word</a></h4>
<p><strong>The Lincoln-Douglas debates </strong>can be <span>can be defined as a series of seven debates between incumbent S</span>enator<span> </span>Stephen A. Douglas, as the Democratic Party candidate,<span> </span>and Republican challenger<span> </span>Abraham Lincoln, Republican Party candidate for the U.S. Senate from Illinoiw during the 1858<span> </span>Illinois<span> </span>senatorial campaign, principally concerning the issue of<span> </span><span>slavery</span><span> </span>extension into the territories.<br /><br />Lincoln and Douglas decided to hold one debate in each of the nine congressional districts in Illinois. Both candidates had already spoken in Springfield and Chicago within a day of each other, so they decided that their joint appearances would be held in the remaining seven districts. Each debate lasted 3 hours. The format was that one candidate spoke for 60 minutes, then the other candidate spoke for 90 minutes, and then the first candidate was allowed a 30-minute rejoinder. The debates previewed the issues that Lincoln later faced after his victory in the 1860 presidential election. Illinois was a free state, and the main issue discussed in all seven debates was slavery in the United States, particularly its future expansion into new territories.</p>
<p><span> </span><span>The slavery extension question had seemingly been settled by the</span><span> </span><span>Missouri Compromise</span><span> </span><span>nearly 40 years earlier. The</span><span> </span><span>Mexican War, however, had added new territories, and the issue flared up again in the 1840s. The</span><span> </span><span>Compromise of 1850provided a temporary respite from sectional strife, but the</span><span> </span><span>Kansas-Nebraska Act</span><span> </span><span>of 1854—a measure which was sponsored by Douglas—brought the slavery extension issue to the forefront once again. Douglas’s bill in effect repealed the</span><span> </span><span>Missouri Compromise</span><span> </span><span>by lifting the ban against slavery in territories north of the 36°30′ latitude. In lieu </span><span>of the ban, Douglas offered</span><span> </span><span>popular sovereignty, the doctrine which states that the actual settlers in the territories should decide the fate of slavery in their own land, being the central focus of such settlers, and not Congress. </span></p>
<p><span> </span></p>
<p><span>In 1854</span>,<span>Senator </span><span>Stephen Douglas of Illinois presented a bill destined to be one of the most consequential pieces of legislation in our national history. </span><span>Supposedly </span><span>a bill “to organize the Territory of Nebraska,” an area covering the present-day states of Kansas, Nebraska, Montana, and the Dakotas, contemporaries </span><span>referred to </span><span>it </span><span>as</span><span>“the Nebraska bill.” Today, we know it as the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854.</span></p>
<p><span>By the 1850s</span><span>, </span><span>there were </span><span>pressing </span><span>demands to </span><span>structure </span><span>the western territories. </span><span>The </span><span>land acquired from Mexico in 1848, the California </span><span>Gold Rush </span><span>of 1849, and the </span><span>unyielding movement </span><span>toward westward expansion forced farmers, ranchers, and </span><span>over-viewers </span><span>toward the Pacific. The Mississippi River had </span><span>indeed </span><span>long served as a highway for the north-south traffic, but the western lands needed a river of steel, not a river of water—</span><span>denoting </span><span>a transcontinental railroad </span><span>in order </span><span>to link the eastern states to the Pacific. Whic h led to the golden question of: What route would that railroad take?</span></p>
<p><span>Stephen Douglas, one of the railway’s chief </span><span>organizers and supporters</span><span>, wanted </span><span>to develop </span><span>a northern route through Chicago. However, the only problem with this idea is that would take the rail lines through the </span><span>dis</span><span>organized </span><span>territory of Nebraska</span><span>, which </span><span>was located </span><span>north of </span><span>the </span><span>1820 Missouri Compromise line</span><span>, </span><span>where slavery was prohibited. Others, mainly slaveholders and allies </span><span>of</span><span>, most specifically, </span><span>favored </span><span>a southern </span><span>railroad </span><span>route, perhaps </span><span>one that went </span><span>through the new stat</span><span>e</span><span>of Texas. Nevertheless, in order to pass his “Nebraska bill,” Douglas needed a compromise.</span></p>
<p><span> </span></p>
<p><span>On January 4, 1854, </span><span>Stephen</span><span>Douglas introduced a bill designed to </span><span>maintain common ground</span><span>. He proposed arranging the </span><span>extensive</span><span>territory “with or without slavery, as their constitutions may prescribe.” </span></p>
<p><span>This policy became known as “popular sovereignty,” and was policy that contradicted the Missouri Compromise, and leaving open even more, the question of slavery. However, despite Douglas’s proposal and efforts to meet northerners and southerners in the middle, even that was not enough to satisfy a group of dominant southern senators led by the state of Missouri’s David Atchison. These senators wanted to explicitly repeal the 1820 line. Douglas viewed the railroad line as the “onward march of civilization,” and thus, he agreed to the southern senators’ demands. Douglas told Atchison, “I will incorporate it into my bill, though I know it will raise a hell of a storm.” From that moment on, the Nebraska bill debate was no longer a discussion about organizing railway lines; it was all about slavery.</span></p>
<br /><br />
US Government, Post Office Department, U.S. Senate
https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Kansas_Nebraska_Act.htm
US Government, Post Office Department, U.S. Senate
1958
US Government, Post Office Department, U.S. Senate
US Government, Post Office Department, U.S. Senate
Senate.gov
Photograph
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Lincoln_Douglas_Debates_1958_issue-4c.jpg
English
Debate
Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln-Douglas Debates, Illinois, Slavery, Unied States, Historic
United States
"Chance for Peace" Speech - Dwight Eisenhower
<h4><a href="https://vmps.omeka.net/exhibits/show/public-service-spoken-word/public-service-spoken-word">Return to Public Service through the Spoken Word</a></h4>
The Chance for Peace speech, also known as the Cross of Iron speech, was an address given by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower on April 16, 1953, shortly after the death of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. Speaking only three months into his presidency, Eisenhower likened arms spending to stealing from the people, and evoked William Jennings Bryan in describing "humanity hanging from a cross of iron." Although Eisenhower, a former military man, spoke against increased military spending, the Cold War deepened during his administration and political pressures for increased military spending mounted. By the time he left office in 1961, he felt it necessary to warn of the military-industrial complex. <br /><br />The speech was addressed to the American Society of Newspaper Editors, in Washington D.C., on April 16, 1953. Eisenhower took an opportunity to highlight the cost of continued tensions and rivalry with the Soviet Union While addressed to the American Society of Newspaper Editors, the speech was broadcast nationwide, through use of television and radio, from the Statler Hotel. He noted that not only were there military dangers (as had been demonstrated by the Korean War), but an arms race would place a huge domestic burden on both nations: <br /><br />"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement. We pay for a single fighter with a half-million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people. . . . This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron"
White House
https://kr.usembassy.gov/education-culture/infopedia-usa/famous-speeches/dwight-d-eisenhower-chance-peace/
https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/eisenhower-weighs-chance-for-peace-in-the-cold-war-video
- excellent video provided on this webpage
Dwight_D._Eisenhower%2C_official_photo_portrait%2C_May_29%2C_1959.jpg
Eisenhower Presidential Library, U.S. Embassy, History.com
May 29, 1959
White House, U.S. Embassy, History.com
Eisenhower Presidential Library
Photograph
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/63/Dwight_D._Eisenhower%2C_official_photo_portrait%2C_May_29%2C_1959.jpg/818px-
English
Speech
Arms Spending, Eisenhower, Poverty, Public Needs, Priorities, Defense
United States.