The first complete reference on the military-industrial complex, from its Cold War era expansion to the present. The Military-Industrial Complex and American Society addresses the broad subject of the political economy of defense research and its wide-reaching effects on many aspects of American life. Ranging from the massive arms buildup of the Cold War to the influx of private contractors and corporations such as Halliburton, it reveals the interconnectedness of the military, industry, and government within the history of this public/private enterprise. The Military-Industrial Complex and American Society offers over 100 alphabetically organized entries on a wide of range of significant research bodies and government agencies, as well as important people, events, and technologies. In addition, a series of essays looks at such essential topics as propaganda, think tanks, defense budgeting, the defense industry and the economy, and the breakdown of the military-industrial complex in Vietnam. With this work, students, policymakers, and other interested readers will understand the ramifications of the relationships between industry, scientific and technological communities, the government, and society.

In Dwight D. Eisenhower's last speech as president, on January 17, 1961, he warned America about the "military-industrial complex," a mutual dependency between the nation's industrial base and its military structure that had developed during World War II. After the conflict ended, the nation did not abandon its wartime economy but rather the opposite. Military spending has steadily increased, giving rise to one of the key ideas that continues to shape our country's political landscape.In this book, published to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of Eisenhower's farewell address, journalist James Ledbetter shows how the government, military contractors, and the nation's overall economy have become inseparable. Some of the effects are beneficial, such as cell phones, GPS systems, the Internet, and the Hubble Space Telescope, all of which emerged from technologies first developed for the military. But the military-industrial complex has also provoked agonizing questions. Does our massive military establishment--bigger than those of the next ten largest combined--really make us safer? How much of our perception of security threats is driven by the profit-making motives of military contractors? To what extent is our foreign policy influenced by contractors' financial interests?Ledbetter uncovers the surprising origins and the even more surprising afterlife of the military-industrial complex, an idea that arose as early as the 1930s, and shows how it gained traction during World War II, the Cold War, and the Vietnam era and continues even today.

An exposé of forefront military contractor Lockheed Martin discusses its power and influence while tracing the company's billion-dollar growth and presence in every aspect of American life.

"The book covers the Cold War origins of the military-industrial complex and explains its current relevance since the 9/11 terrorist attacks"--

This book is the most comprehensive collection available explaining what the military industrial complex (MIC) is, where it comes from, what damage it does, what further destruction it threatens, and what can be done and is being done to chart a different course.

The vast, and vastly influential, American military machine has been aided and abetted by cinema since the earliest days of the medium. The US military realized very quickly that film could be used in myriad ways: training, testing, surveying and mapping, surveillance, medical and psychological management of soldiers, and of course, propaganda. Bringing together a collection of new essays, based on archival research, Wasson and Grieveson seek to cover the complex history of how the military deployed cinema for varied purposes across the the long twentieth century, from the incipient wars of US imperialism in the late nineteenth century to the ongoing War on Terror. This engagement includes cinema created and used by and for the military itself (such as training films), the codevelopment of technologies (chemical, mechanical, and digital), and the use of film (and related mass media) as a key aspect of American "soft power," at home and around the world. A rich and timely set of essays, this volume will become a go-to for scholars interested in all aspects of how the military creates and uses moving-image media.