Self-Consciousness in the 1950s

Self-Conscious Guy 1951 Coronet Instructional Films, Teen Problems from Jeff Quitney on Vimeo.

Eisenhower era advocacy

 

indispensable

"Plans are worthless, but planning is essential."

- Dwight Eisenhower [1890-1969]

or both

"Any man who wants to be president is either an egomaniac or crazy."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

on Ike

“He’ll sit here, and he’ll say, ‘Do this! Do that!’ And nothing will happen. Poor Ike—it won’t be a bit like the Army. He’ll find it very frustrating.”
- Harry Truman

cold warrior

"This world of ours ... must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

process

Plans are nothing; planning is everything.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

A contrary reference to planning here.

parking your cadillac

Military Industrial Complex

"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. ... We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower [1890-1969], Farewell Address, January 17, 1961

"It was about American hegemony against any rival power, totalitarian or not, globally expansionist or not. The end of Communism was, for some, a problem. It removed a key rationale for military power."