State of the Union AddressesEisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David)
History
State of the Union Addresses
Eisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David)
Presidents -- United States -- Messages; United States -- Politics and government -- Sources
Second, we must stay alert to the fact that undue reliance on one weapon or
preparation for only one kind of warfare simply invites an enemy to resort
to another. We must, therefore, keep in our armed forces balance and
flexibility adequate for our purposes and objectives.
Third, to keep our armed forces abreast of the advances of science, our
military planning must be flexible enough to utilize the new weapons and
techniques which flow ever more speedily from our research and development
programs. The forthcoming military budget therefore emphasizes modern
airpower in the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps and increases the emphasis
on new weapons, especially those of rapid and destructive striking power.
It assures the maintenance of effective, retaliatory force as the principal
deterrent to overt aggression. It accelerates the continental defense
program and the build-up of ready military reserve forces. It continues a
vigorous program of stockpiling strategic and critical materials and
strengthening our mobilization base. The budget also contemplates the
strategic concentration of our strength through redeployment of certain
forces. It provides for reduction of forces in certain categories and their
expansion in others, to fit them to the military realities of our time.
These emphases in our defense planning have been made at my personal
direction after long and thoughtful study. In my judgment, they will give
our nation a defense accurately adjusted to the national need.
Fourth, pending a world agreement on armament limitation, we must continue
to improve and expand our supplies of nuclear weapons for our land, naval
and air forces, while, at the same time, continuing our encouraging
progress in the peaceful use of atomic power.
And fifth, in the administration of these costly programs, we must demand
the utmost in efficiency and ingenuity. We must assure our people not only
of adequate protection but also of a defense that can be carried forward
from year to year until the threat of aggression has disappeared.
To help maintain this kind of armed strength and improve its efficiency, I
must urge the enactment of several important measures in this session.
The first concerns the selective service act which expires next June 30th.
For the foreseeable future, our standing forces must remain much larger
than voluntary methods can sustain. We must, therefore, extend the
statutory authority to induct men for two years of military service.
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