德懷特‧D‧艾森豪威爾   (DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER)

告別演說   Farewell Address.

Three days from now, after half a century in the service of our country, I shall lay down the responsibilities of office as, in traditional and solemn ceremony, the authority of the Presidency is vested in my successor. . . .

   We now stand ten years past the midpoint of a century that has witnessed four major wars among great nations. Three of them involved our own country. Despite these holocausts America is today the strongest, the most influential and most productive nation in the world.

Understandably proud of this pre-eminence we yet realize that America's leadership and prestige depend, not merely upon our unmatched material progress, riches and military strength, but on how we use our power in the interests of world peace and human betterment.

    Throughout America's adventure in free government, our basic purposes have been to keep the peace; to foster progress in human achievement, and to enhance liberty, dignity and integrity among people and among nations. To strive for less would be unworthy of a free and religious people. Any failure traceable to arrogance, or our lack of comprehension or readiness to sacrifice would inflict upon us grievous hurt both at home and abroad.

    Progress toward these noble goals is persistently threatened by the conflict now engulfing the world. It commands our whole attention, absorbs our very beings. We face a hostile ideology－global in scope, atheistic in character, 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. ...

    A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction.

    Our military organization today bears little relation to that known by any of my predecessors in peacetime, or indeed by the fighting men of World War II or Korea.

    Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations.

    This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence－  economic, political, even spiritual－ is felt in every city, every statehouse, every office of the federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources, and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.

    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.

   Akin to, and largely responsible for the sweeping changes in our industrial-military posture, has been the technological revolution during recent decades.

    In this revolution, research has become central; it also becomes more formalized, complex, and costly. A steadily increasing share is conducted for, by, or at the direction of, the federal government....

    The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present － and is gravely to be regarded.

   Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite.

    It is the task of statesmanship to mold, to balance, and to integrate these and other forces, new and old, within the principles of our democratic system－ ever aiming toward the supreme goals of our free society.

    Another factor in maintaining balance involves the element of time. As we peer into society's future, we－ you and I, and our government－ must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.

    Down the long lane of the history yet to be written America knows that this world of ours, ever growing smaller, must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect.

    Such a confederation must be one of equals. The weakest must come to the conference table with the same confidence as do we, protected as we are by our moral, economic, and military strength. That table, though scarred by many past frustrations, cannot be abandoned for the certain agony of the battlefield.

    Disarmament, with mutual honor and confidence, is a continuing imperative. Together we must learn how to compose differences, not with arms, but with intellect and decent purpose. Because this need is so sharp and apparent I confess that I lay down my official responsibilities in this field with a definite sense of disappointment. As one who has witnessed the horror and the lingering sadness of war－ as one who knows that another war could utterly destroy this civilization which has been so slowly and painfully built over thousands of years－ I wish I could say tonight that a lasting peace is in sight.

    Happily, I can say that war has been avoided. Steady progress toward our ultimate goal has been made. But, so much remains to be done. As a private citizen, I shall never cease to do what little I can to help the world advance along that road. . . .

再過三天，在我為我國服務半個世紀之後，隨著總統的權威按傳統的隆重儀式歸屬我的繼任者，本人將卸下公職。…… 

    我們現在的日期距本世紀中點已過十年，這個世紀經歷了大國之間四次大的戰爭，我們自己的國家捲入其中三次。儘管發生了這些大規模的戰禍，當今美國乃是世界上最強大、最有影響、生產力最高的國家。我們自然為此卓越成就感到自豪，但我們也意識到，美國的領導地位和威信不僅取決於我們舉世無雙的物質進步、財富和軍事力量，而且取決於我們如何為世界和平與人類福利使用我們的力量。

    縱觀美國在自由政府體制上的探索歷程，我們的基本目的始終是維護和平，促進人類進步，在人民中和國家之間增進自由權，提高尊嚴，宏揚正直的品質。追求較低的目標會辱沒一個自由、有虔誠宗教信仰的民族。任何由於驕傲自大或理解力不強或缺乏奉獻精神的失敗都將在國內外給我們帶來嚴重損害。 

    走向這些崇高目標的進程一直受到現在正席捲全球的衝突的威脅。這種衝突迫使我們全神貫注，全力以赴。我們面對一種敵對的意識形態──具有世界性規模和無神論性質，目標殘忍，手段陰險。不幸的是，它所造成的危險將長期存在。欲成功地對付它，所要求的與其說是危急關頭感情上短暫的痛苦，毋寧說是作出犧牲以使我們能堅定踏實、任勞任怨地承擔一場長期複雜鬥爭的重任──與自由共存亡。只有這樣我們才能戰勝一次又一次的挑釁，始終朝著世界持久和平和人類美好未來的方向前進。…… 

    我們的軍隊是維護和平必不可少的要素。我們的武裝力量必須強大，隨時準備投入行動，以使任何潛在的侵略者都不敢貿然以卵擊石。

    我們今天的軍事組織與我的任何一位和平時期前任所瞭解的，與第二次世界大戰或朝鮮戰爭中的軍人所瞭解的軍事組織大相逕庭。

    直至最近的一次世界性衝突之前、美國仍沒有軍事工業。美國的犁鏵製造商們在必要時也能製造劍。但是現在我們不能再以臨陣磨槍的方式承擔國防上的風險；我們已被迫創建一個規模宏大的永久性軍事工業。此外，350萬男人和婦女直接服務於國防機構。我們每年在軍事安全上的開支超過了美國所有的公司的純收入。

    一支龐大的軍隊和一個大規模軍事工業相結合，在美國是史無前例的。它的全部影響──經濟的、政治的，甚至精神的──在每個城市、每座州議會大樓、每一聯邦政府機構內都能感覺到。我們承認這種發展絕對必要，但我們不應忽視其重大的影響。它涉及我們的人力、資源、生活，乃至我們社會的結構。

    在政府各部門，我們必須警惕軍事─工業聯合體取得無法證明是正當的影響力，不論它這樣追求與否。極不適當的權力惡性增長的可能性目前已經存在並將繼續存在。

    我們決不能讓這一聯合體的勢力危害我們的自由或民主進程。我們不應心存僥倖。只有警覺而明智的美國公民才能強迫龐大的工業和軍事的國防機構與我們和平的手段和目標恰當配合，以使安全和自由並駕齊驅，同獲成功。

    近幾十年的技術革命與我們的工業─軍事狀況的巨大變化有相似之處，而且對這種巨大變化起了很大作用。 

    在這場技術革命中，研究工作已趨於集中；它也變得更正規，更複雜，更昂貴。為聯邦政府而實施，由聯邦政府實施，或在聯邦政府指導下實施的研究工作份額正逐步增加。

    由聯邦政府僱用而形成支配全國學者的局面，以及統一分配專案，統一控制財力，這種前景一直存在，而且應當引起嚴重關注。

    我們應該尊重科學研究和探索，但與此同時我們必須對這一同樣嚴重的負面危險保持警惕，即政府政策本身可能淪為一個科學──技術精英階層的俘虜。

    治國之才的任務，是在我們民主制度的原則範疇內，塑造、平衡和融合這些和其他新舊力量──始終以實現我們自由社會的最高目標為目的。

    另一個保持平衡的因素涉及時間這一要素。當我們展望社會的未來時，我們──你、我和我國政府──必須避免一種只顧今日生活的衝動，不應為了我們自己的舒適和便利巧取豪奪明天的寶貴資源。我們不可能以孫兒輩的物質財富作抵押，而又不冒使他們喪失政治和精神遺產的風險。我們要讓民主代代相傳，它不該成為明天無力還債的鬼魂。 

    展望有待書寫的未來歷史長卷，美國深知我們這個越來越小的世界決不應變成一個充滿恐懼和仇恨的可怕的群體，相反，它應成為一個相互信任、相互尊重的光輝的聯盟。

    這樣一個聯盟必定是平等國家間的聯盟。最弱小的國家一定以與我們相同的自信心來到會議桌旁，和我們一樣受到我們的道德、經濟和軍事力量的保護。那會議桌雖然留下歷史坎坷的纍纍傷痕，但我們不能將它拋棄以換來戰場的慘劇。

    以相互尊敬和信任實行裁軍仍是一項迫切任務。我們必須一起學習怎樣不用武力，而是以理智和公正的意圖去解決紛爭。因為裁軍的緊迫性如此明顯突出，我承認我是懷著某種失望的心情卸下我的總統職責的。作為一個目睹過戰爭的恐怖及其難以癒合的創傷的人──深知另一場戰爭會徹底毀掉歷經數千年緩慢而又艱苦地建成的人類文明──我但願自己今晚能說：持久和平已遙遙在望。

    幸好我可以說，已經避免發生戰爭了。朝我們的終極目標已邁開堅實的步伐。但是任重而道遠。作為一個普通公民，我將始終不渝地為推動世界沿著這條道路前進貢獻一份綿薄。……