Nothing here is new

"I have worked with a Congress that disagreed with me on most of what mattered, and on the issues of great moment, we found agreement anyway, to serve the national good rather than mere partisanship.

America's leadership and prestige depend not merely upon our unmatched material progress, riches, and military strength, but on how we use our power in the interests of world peace and human betterment.

We face a hostile ideology, global in scope, atheistic in character, ruthless in purpose, and insidious in method.

The danger it poses promises to be of indefinite duration.

To meet it, we need not so much the emotional and transitory sacrifices of crisis, but those which enable us to carry forward steadily, surely, and without complaint the burdens of a prolonged and complex struggle.

Crises there will continue to be.

And in meeting them, there is a recurring temptation to feel that some spectacular and costly action could become the miraculous solution to all current difficulties.

But each proposal must be weighed in light of a broader consideration, the need to maintain balance in and among national programs.

Balance between the private and the public economy.

Balance between cost and hoped-for advantage.

Balance between the clearly necessary and the comfortably desirable.

Balance between our essential requirements as a nation and the duties imposed by the nation upon the individual.

Balance between the actions of the moment and the national welfare of the future.

Good judgment seeks balance and progress.

Lack of it eventually finds imbalance and frustration.

A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment.

Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action.

But until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry.

American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well.

We can no longer risk emergency improvisation.

We have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions.

Now, this conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience.

Its total influence is felt in every city, every statehouse, every office of the federal government.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.

The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

"I have worked with a Congress that disagreed with me on most of what mattered, and on the issues of great moment, we found agreement anyway, to serve the national good rather than mere partisanship.

America's leadership and prestige depend not merely upon our unmatched material progress, riches, and military strength, but on how we use our power in the interests of world peace and human betterment.

We face a hostile ideology, global in scope, atheistic in character, ruthless in purpose, and insidious in method.

The danger it poses promises to be of indefinite duration.

To meet it, we need not so much the emotional and transitory sacrifices of crisis, but those which enable us to carry forward steadily, surely, and without complaint the burdens of a prolonged and complex struggle.

Crises there will continue to be.

And in meeting them, there is a recurring temptation to feel that some spectacular and costly action could become the miraculous solution to all current difficulties.

But each proposal must be weighed in light of a broader consideration, the need to maintain balance in and among national programs.

Balance between the private and the public economy.

Balance between cost and hoped-for advantage.

Balance between the clearly necessary and the comfortably desirable.

Balance between our essential requirements as a nation and the duties imposed by the nation upon the individual.

Balance between the actions of the moment and the national welfare of the future.

Good judgment seeks balance and progress.

Lack of it eventually finds imbalance and frustration.

A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment.

Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action.

But until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry.

American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well.

We can no longer risk emergency improvisation.

We have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions.

Now, this conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience.

Its total influence is felt in every city, every statehouse, every office of the federal government.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.

The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.