Pretty sure the Carter administration was the last one to have no new wars in over 100 years.
Edit: I was wrong. The US was still involved in wars during his administration.
It’s been super easy finding out the USA has only had 8-34 years of peace in it’s history, not so much what those years pg peace were combing lists on wikipedia with my phone.
In the same way that a lot of people with powerful friends in the city depend on new highway projects, new community centers, new programs being set up, so that their friends can get paid, people in the US government with powerful friends depend on new wars so that everyone can sell weapons and continue to have good quarters.
The US military benefits enormously from getting a ton of practice. We’re trying to run an empire, and very often big militaries get lazy because their countries do so well that they don’t really have to be scrappy, and people get complacent. War is so shocking and challenging that the only way to really stay good at it is to be doing it. And so, that’s exactly what the US does.
The US has its fingers in so many pies so to speak that all kinds of shit that happens globally we determine to be our business. Civil war in Syria? Holy shit, better make sure the right people win. Let’s go fuck up some irregular forces that don’t have helicopters or satellite support.
Oh yeah, the military-industrial complex has been an issue since Eisenhower’s warning was ignored on his way out. Then again, he could have done something more about it while in office.
JFK had a speech about it and wanted to curtail it before getting assassinated.
There’s a pretty good book called “Playing With Fire” about the politics of the late 60s and the events of the time. I had to stop reading it, it’s too sad. Bobby Kennedy talking to the crowd after MLK was shot, not knowing that he was going to be dead the same way a short time later, just fucked me up, I put it down.
It was an issue during his presidency, when he actively participated in (at the time) the largest expansion of our nuclear arsenal in history. Eisenhower. like all American presidents, was a hypocrite.
Pretty sure the Carter administration was the last one to have no new wars in over 100 years.
Edit: I was wrong. The US was still involved in wars during his administration.
It’s been super easy finding out the USA has only had 8-34 years of peace in it’s history, not so much what those years pg peace were combing lists on wikipedia with my phone.
Many issues at play:
Oh yeah, the military-industrial complex has been an issue since Eisenhower’s warning was ignored on his way out. Then again, he could have done something more about it while in office. JFK had a speech about it and wanted to curtail it before getting assassinated.
I 100% believe that JFK was killed because he was serious about trying to bring some humanity to the US government.
Also why Bobby never achieved the presidency, and he had the balls to tell the rich he was going to tax them to pay for a better social safety net.
There’s a pretty good book called “Playing With Fire” about the politics of the late 60s and the events of the time. I had to stop reading it, it’s too sad. Bobby Kennedy talking to the crowd after MLK was shot, not knowing that he was going to be dead the same way a short time later, just fucked me up, I put it down.
Absolutely. The wealthy in the USA fail to be able to see a profit margin from empathy or humane policy.
It was an issue during his presidency, when he actively participated in (at the time) the largest expansion of our nuclear arsenal in history. Eisenhower. like all American presidents, was a hypocrite.