Inauguration Day comes only once every four years, but each January we are reminded of previous presidential arrivals -- and leave-takings. This week includes both the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy's inaugural address and Dwight D. Eisenhower's farewell address to the nation three days earlier. And because his 100th birthday is just around the corner, Ronald Reagan's 1989 farewell address lingers this year in the collective American mind as well. They are speeches worth remembering.
The most ambitious of the three was the least artfully delivered. Dwight Eisenhower delivered his White House farewell in a near monotone, stumbling over the occasional word, then correcting himself, sounding for the all the world like a man who had memorized a speech. That was true, but oh, what a speech! The U.S. Army lifer, the five-star general who'd led the greatest armed force in history, had something big to impart: Beware of a permanent and growing U.S. "military industrial complex."
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