Video: 'Eisenhower Farewell Address (Best Quality) - 'Military Industrial Complex' WARNING'

(Tuesday, January 27, 1961, 8:30 p.m. EST) — U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower cautioned the nation in a farewell address from the White House tonight to be vigilant against dangers to its liberties implicit in a vast military establishment and a permanent armaments industry unparalleled in peacetime.

“We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex,” he declared during the nationally televised address. “We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes.”