Could A Military Coup Happen In The United States? A CIA For The First Century-and-a-half
12 January 2013
By Jacob G. Hornberger
Uh, oh! The Egyptian people might well be learning a
lesson about standing armies that America's Founding
Fathers tried to impart to the American people.
Egypt's standing army, which has long been built up
and fortified by U.S. foreign aid, is sending a
not-so-subtle message to Egyptians that if the
civilian authorities are unable to bring the current
crisis in Egypt under control, the military might have
to step in to establish "order and stability." Defense
Minister Abdel Fattah El Sissi stated, "The
continuation of the conflict between the different
political forces and their differences over how the
country should be run could lead to the collapse of
the state and threaten future generations."
One might say, "Well, at least the American people
don't have to worry about the U.S. military
establishment."
Interestingly, however, two U.S. presidents and one
former U.S. president believed otherwise. Like our
nation's Founding Fathers, they believed that
America's permanent military or intelligence
establishment constituted a grave threat to the
freedom and well-being of the American people.
The first president was Dwight D. Eisenhower, a
retired army general who served as Supreme Commander
of Allied Forces in World War II. In his Farewell
Address in 1961, he warned Americans of the grave
threat posed by the military-industrial complex to
America's democratic processes:
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.
The second president was John F. Kennedy, who, by the
time he was assassinated, totally distrusted the
military and the CIA. Here are his precise words about
whether a coup was possible here in the United States:
It's possible. It could happen in this country, but
the conditions would have to be just right. If, for
example, the country had a young President, and he had
a Bay of Pigs, there would be a certain uneasiness.
Maybe the military would do a little criticizing
behind his back, but this would be written off as the
usual military dissatisfaction with civilian control.
Then if there were another Bay of Pigs, the reaction
of the country would be, "Is he too young and
inexperienced?" The military would almost feel that it
was their patriotic obligation to stand ready to
preserve the integrity of the nation, and only God
knows just what segment of democracy they would be
defending if they overthrew the elected
establishment…. Then, if there were a third Bay of
Pigs, it could happen…. But it won't happen on my
watch.
Moreover, Kennedy had read the novel Seven Days in
May, which posited a military coup here in the United
States. According to Wikipedia, Kennedy "believed the
scenario as described could actually occur in the
United States." Kennedy encouraged the making of a
movie based on the novel as a way to warn the American
people of the danger, notwithstanding the fact that
the Pentagon ardently opposed the making of the film.
The movie was ultimately made and starred Burt
Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Frederic March, Ava Gardner,
and Edmond O'Brien.
The former president was Harry S. Truman. Thirty days
after the Kennedy assassination, he published an op-ed
in the Washington Post about the CIA. Pointing out
that the CIA was intended to serve only as an
intelligence-gathering agency, Truman stated:
I never had any thought that when I set up the CIA
that it would be injected into peacetime cloak and
dagger operations. Some of the complications and
embarrassment I think we have experienced are in part
attributable to the fact that this quiet intelligence
arm of the President has been so removed from its
intended role that it is being interpreted as a symbol
of sinister and mysterious foreign intrigue — and a
subject for cold war enemy propaganda….
We have grown up as a nation, respected for our free
institutions and for our ability to maintain a free
and open society. There is something about the way the
CIA has been functioning that is casting a shadow over
our historic position and I feel that we need to
correct it.
Since then, however, not one single president has
dared to say such things about the military, the
military-industrial complex, and the CIA. On the
contrary, ever since 1963, every single president has
been a cheerleader for an ever-expanding
national-security state, with ever-increasing budgets,
power, and influence for the military and the CIA.
It should be pointed out though that both before and
after Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Truman said those
things, the U.S. military and the CIA supported and
participated in coups that brought dictatorships into
power, such as the 1953 coup in Iran, the 1954
military coup in Guatemala, and the 1973 military coup
in Chile.
Why did the U.S. military and the CIA support and
participate in those coups, all of which destroyed the
democratic processes in those nations? Because they
believed in them as fervently as the military
establishments that instigated them. They believed the
coups were necessary to maintain "order and stability"
and to protect "national security" in those nations as
well as "national security" here at home.
Time will tell whether the Egyptian people experience
the same thing that the Iranian, Guatemalan, Chilean,
and others suffered–military coups that destroy
democracy in the name of establishing "order and
stability" and protecting "national security."
Of course, Americans once didn't have to be concerned
about the possibility that such a thing could happen
here. That's because Americans chose to live without a
standing army, a military industrial complex, and a
CIA for the first century-and-a-half of our nation's
existence.
Jacob G. Hornberger is founder and president of The
Future of Freedom Foundation. He was born and raised
in Laredo, Texas, and received his B.A. in economics
from Virginia Military Institute and his law degree
from the University of Texas. He was a trial attorney
for twelve years in Texas. He also was an adjunct
professor at the University of Dallas, where he taught
law and economics. In 1987, Mr. Hornberger left the
practice of law to become director of programs at the
Foundation for Economic Education. He has advanced
freedom and free markets on talk-radio stations all
across the country as well as on Fox News' Neil Cavuto
and Greta van Susteren shows and he appeared as a
regular commentator on Judge Andrew Napolitano's show
Freedom Watch. View these interviews at
LewRockwell.com and from Full Context. Send him email.
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