The War State: The Cold War Origins Of The Military-Industrial Complex And The Power Elite, 1945-1963

If you wanted to know how the world and the US got into the pickle they're in now, this is the book. Eerily omniscient considering the Ukraine situation now.

Mike Swanson is a former hedge fund operator and currently a stock market guru. Surprisingly, his degrees are not in business, but History. He has written a very interesting, clear, and complete history of America as a "War State" from WWII to the present.The general theme is that the "military-industrial complex" has hijacked the government for decades and has sabotaged our economy whether intentionally or through carefree greed. Swanson, as befitting a former graduate student in History, has done an immense amount of research. He reveals some amazing facts regarding the "cold war" and the Complex's ability to diminish the Presidency while increasing the power of the Permanent Bureaucracy. It has managed to change the way America thinks of itself to a model unthinkable to the Founding Fathers. Along the way in this narrative you can see many similarities to the extinct empires of old.While Truman and Eisenhower were aware of the risk, they had little power to combat the big money flowing from the defense establishment into Congress and general elections. As a result, although Eisenhower warned of the risks, they did little about it. If there is a hero in this book, it is JFK. Having been misled by the military and CIA regarding Cuba, he went around them to come up with a diplomatic solution which years later led to detente. Shortly thereafter, he was assassinated. It makes you think when you see whom he aggravated.His military advisers and those connected with the Complex mostly wanted to nuke Cuba and seemed oblivious to our losses. (Of course this is true of all our wars where the old seem little concerned by the young being taken off the board). Swanson's research into the recently opened Russian archives provides fascinating material on Kruschev and how the Russians perceived their threat from the U.S. Meanwhile, the Complex diligently pursued homeland propaganda to keep Americans in a heightened fear of Russia. Sort of tragically, we hear of the call to close a non-existent "missile gap" and calls for an absurd number of nuclear weapons - it's doubtful we needed tens of thousands of H-Bombs.All in all, this is a terrific book.Nevertheless, I have a few quibbles. First, I think the Complex, including DuPont and the Rockefeller and Morgan interests existed before WWII and were highly instrumental in getting us into WWI and the small wars between WWI and WWII.Second, as shown by Russia's own problems controlling the military complex there, it appears that an economy needs a huge defense complex to ensure full employment. In Russia's case, they went over the tipping point and dissolved (and, as Swanson points out, we might be next).Third, aside from saying the current state of affairs is disastrous; there is no proposal to solve the problem except to vote for change. We know how well that works when you have a propagandized and fearful populace. Also, with such a huge bureaucracy, and Complex, how do you handle it's shrinkage without sinking the economy? They need to be re-tasked, but that is easier said than done and Swanson makes no suggestions.Fourth, the book essentially ends with Kennedy and gives short or no shrift to Lyndon Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II, and even Obama - all of whom, despite their varying rhetoric, appear to be in the Complex's pocket. In fact Johnson pioneered a new stage of war finance. He believed in a war with no obvious costs to the people. For instance, unlike in WWI, WWII, and Korea, there was no increased taxation of the rich, or excess profits taxes on those benefitting from the war. You can guess what this did for our deficit, but it made permanent war more acceptable to the people. The costs are there, but hidden.Fifth, perhaps because of his own participation in the world of finance, Swanson says almost nothing about the complicity of big finance in the problem, except to mention the huge participation of investment bankers, and Yale "bonesmen" on the more problematic side of the corridors of power.Quibbles aside, I love this book and recommend it to anyone who seeks to understand what has really moved America over the last 70 years. The notes and bibliography are also excellent. This is a job well done by a good historian outside the mainstream.

This book provides a good overview of the so called Cold War I thought.I read this book as part of my ongoing research about the assassination of President Kennedy. At this point in my research I need to move past the nuts and bolts of the assassination like how many times JFK was shot and things like that. Those aren't the most important questions. The important issues are who wanted John Kennedy dead and why and how were they able to do something like that. There had to be some major reasons why they would commit such a monumental crime. And those reasons are revealed in books like this somewhere.When I say 'they' I mean the Military Industrial Complex. I have no doubt that John Kennedy was stabbed in the back by treasonous elements within his own country. It's hard for me to tell how extensive this conspiracy really went and into what areas of the Military Industrial Complex. The CIA and the Joint Chiefs Of Staff are on the suspect list though. There was no love lost between President Kennedy and the military and intelligence establishments. Mr. Swanson tells how Robert Kennedy was concerned that the military brass might kill his brother during the ominous Cuban Missile Crisis.Some of those generals like Curtis 'Bombs Away' Lemay lost their marbles during World II I think. Lemay didn't seem to understand what nuclear weapons really are. Lemay seemed to speak about the use of nuclear weapons in World War II terms like they were just another type of bomb.Near the end of the book Mr. Swanson mentions some things Jackie Kennedy said her husband John was planning to do:1. Attend a peace summit in Moscow.2. Remove J. Edgar Hoover as the director of the FBI.3. Replace Dean Rusk in the State Department.4. Get control of the government's policy in Vietnam.That list right there is an excellent starting point for understanding some of the many reasons why the War State wanted John Kennedy dead.Mr. Swanson talks about an important government directive called NSC-68. This National Security Council directive labelled any country that refused to bow to the will of the United States a communist sympathizer. And any country that got on that list was then subject to the CIA's evil machinations.Some authors such as the great Fletcher Prouty felt the entire Cold War was a myth that was fabricated by the War State to justify their own existence.For me the assassination of President Kennedy and the quagmire in Vietnam confirm that hypothesis. Those are two historical realities which indicate that the War State had flown off the rails. JFK: The CIA, Vietnam, and the Plot to Assassinate John F. Kennedy JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War The Man Who Killed Kennedy: The Case Against LBJ The Dark Side of Lyndon Baines Johnson Countdown to Darkness: The Assassination of President Kennedy Volume II (Volume 2) Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years Mary's Mosaic: The CIA Conspiracy to Murder John F. Kennedy, Mary Pinchot Meyer, and Their Vision for World Peace: Third Edition Ufo...Contact from Planet Iarga

Well written, critical information for all Americans, though I wonder if it may not be too late.Recommended, 5/5

16JUL2013 pp.430 24.6mm NO Index pbk printed by Amazon.Ford, Carter and Obama did little to obstruct them while Roosevelt II, Kennedy and Nixon worked to obstruct them.Truman authorised the National Security Council Report 68 (NSC-68) in 1950 stating that "even if there were no Soviet Union we would face the great problem of the society...order, security...[and]...freedom". It compromised the constitution by authorising assassinations, coups, sabotage,subversion and false-flag operations.Eisenhower authorised the CIA and MI 6 to overthrow the Iranian government to seize the oil fieldsThere was a plan for a nuclear attack in 1954 to roll over communism by attacking Eastern Europe, Russia and China. 25 to 50 million would have died alone in the USA. They claimed bomber then missile gaps to justify by building large bomber then missile fleets. After he resigned he warned of the Military Industrial Complex.Kennedy wanted to smash the CIA buit they got to him first. He stopped the invasion and occupation of Cuba to put the mafia back in control of a lot of the economy. He wanted to pull out of Vietnam and end the Cold War.The Warren Commision contained many future presidents: Johnson, Ford, Carter and Bush Sr. Ten days after they killed Kennedy, President Diem of the Republic of Vietnam was assassinated presumably by the same gang.Nixon was framed in the Watergate affair as he was going off script.Reagan survived being assassinated by a controlled agent. And these are only the US presidents.Swanson is not a professional historian though he does a good job.Supporting books are:  Gabriel Kolko, The Politics of War: The World and United States Foreign Policy, 1943-1945 , Gabriel Kolko, Confrontiong the Third World: United States Foreign Policy, 1945-1980  and  James William Gibson, The Perfect War: Technowar in Vietnam . Gabriel Kolko, The Politics of War: The World and United States Foreign Policy, 1943-1945Gabriel Kolko, Confrontiong the Third World: United States Foreign Policy, 1945-1980James William Gibson, The Perfect War: Technowar in Vietnam

This reminds me of the Politburo and the KGB and when JFK knew the FBI and before Osama Bin Laden and Sadaam Hussein took the fall for Bollywood and those salary contracts in Hollywood for those Bachchans. There was nothing wrong with the Military Industrial Complex and we have gotten lost in a search for history in the future that is spelling Fake News and making our present nonsensical to World Leaders looking for a help with narrative and meaning. This text speaks to authenticity and memory and echoes the past well to scare the reader into real time for what he could miss tomorrow if he is lost in the Maya or the illusion of Shiva.

This is a very informative book outlining the dangerous times we lived in. Written from the perspectives of presidents of the USA and theSoviet leaders, showing the nearness to annihilation that we were lucky to survive in that time of lies and utter stupidity of both superpowers

This book examines the origins of the cold war, the history of the CIA and looks at political figures and how they responded to the crises they faced through the years 1945 -1963.It is a well written and interesting historical text that is well referenced to back up theories proposed by the author.I particularly enjoyed reading about the history of the CIA, how it was run and how it deteriorated into an organisation that acted on its own initiative.It is insightful. I was surprised to learn about the amount of US Government spending on defence budgets over the twentieth century and what they are still spending now. The author does well to highlight the change from the threat of the cold war, to the threat of terrorism in why the Government explains the need to spend so much.I find this book to be a very useful and educational guide to American history and politics over the course of the cold war.

A fascinating read and, although published as long ago as 2013, still highly relevant. Unfortunately, my budget priced copy, albeit supported by numerous foot notes, lacked an index and bibliography.