Discusses the formation and proliferation of the military-industrial complex in the Cold War. Features Michael Brenes, associate director of the Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy and lecturer in history at Yale University.

Grab his book For Might and Right: Cold War Defense Spending and the Remaking of American Democracy.

Episode 1

Discusses the origins of the military-industrial complex (MIC), the MIC-New Deal connection, NSC-68, the MIC as a tool of social mobility, labor unions’ relation to the security state, and more.

Episode 2

Picks up the discussion after the Korean War, touching on Eisenhower’s “military-industrial complex” farewell address, the 1958 National Defense Education Act, Robert McNamara and the Kennedy administration, defense conversion and “anti-militarist” Democrats, the effect of the Vietnam War on the MIC, and more.

Episode 3

Picks up in the 1970s, touching on the advent of the all-volunteer force (AVF), the effect of the US-Soviet détente, how labor was affected by the defense industry’s contraction, the rise of neoliberalism, figures like Henry Kissinger and Jimmy Carter, and more.

More episodes coming soon!