Eisenhower’s Cold War words

Filmmaker Eugene Jarecki said he’s passing on President Eisenhower’s warnings of a military buildup “so we can take stock and be vigilant to the dangers to our democracy ... ,” but he ignores another precautionary quote, from the same 1961 Cold War speech that seems to speak to today’s threats of Islamic fanaticism [“The War in America’s Soul,” by Susan King, Jan. 19]:

“We face a hostile ideology -- global in scope ... ruthless in purpose, and insidious in method. Unhappily the danger it poses promises to be of indefinite duration. To meet it successfully, there is called for, not so much the emotional and transitory sacrifices of crisis, but rather those which enable us to carry forward steadily, surely, and without complaint the burdens of a prolonged and complex struggle -- with liberty the stake. Only thus shall we remain, despite every provocation, on our charted course toward permanent peace and human betterment.”

MIRIAM JAFFEE

Thousand Oaks

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Susan King and perhaps even Eugene Jarecki may not be aware of the people who actually wrote the “military-industrial complex” speech for Eisenhower. They were Malcolm Moos, Ray Price and Emmett Hughes. There is some question as to whether Ike just read the speech, proposed the idea or signed off on it. Historians I’ve talked to say he just read what was placed in front of him. Moos was his chief speechwriter; Price, who had come from the N.Y. Herald Tribune, was his chief of staff or deputy chief of staff; and Hughes had joined the team from Time magazine and was a deputy advisor.

MURRAY FROMSON

Los Angeles

Fromson is a USC Annenberg School of Journalism professor.