Description

This book is an account of the rise and decline of the antimilitarist tradition that has been an important part of the American heritage from its beginning in colonial times.

This tradition, with its emphasis upon civil rather than military authority, is accepted as an essential element of American freedom and democracy. By elaborating on the role of the civilian and the military in American history up until the 1950s, the author helps us understand why the growing power and importance of the armed forces over many aspects of national and international policy is alarming for thoughtful citizens and policy makers today.

From the Foreword: As Ekirch presciently foresaw, even a peaceful resolution of the Cold War was not "sufficient to release the American people from the power of the Pentagon and its corporate allies." Incursions of the armed forces occurred in Yugoslavia, the Philippines, Somalia, and elsewhere. Now the United States is involved in wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Yemen, soon perhaps also in Iran. Today there is no conscription, which caused too many problems for the militarists in the Vietnam years. But the American empire bestrides the globe. The United States has over 700 military bases overseas, plus some dozen naval task forces patrolling the oceans, with a multitude of space satellites feeding information to the forces below. Every year its "defense" (i.e., military) budget is nearly equal to those of all other countries combined. Does anyone doubt that for America there are more wars, many more wars, in the offing? As Joseph Schumpeter wrote of the military in imperialist states: "Created by the wars that required it, the machine now created the wars it required."