The Military-Industrial Complex

This booklet provides a thorough analysis of a set of relationships central to American history in the latter 20th century, which entered popular discourse in a phrase used by Dwight D. Eisenhower in his farewell address of 1961-the military-industrial complex. Roland begins with an overview of U.S. industry and the military between World War I and the 1990s. He then focuses on five transformations: civil-military relations, relations between industry and the state, among government agencies, between scientific-technical communities and the state, and between technology and society. The booklet concludes with a bibliographic essay that addresses the salient literature and identifies areas of controversy among historians.