Grab a copy of Michael's 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.
Episode 4
Picks up in the Reagan years, the transition from Cold War liberalism to neoconservativism, the “End of History” era and changes in the domestic political econony of the MIC, the need for soldiers in the age of drones and autonomous units, and more.