It’s commonly thought that the notion of a Military Industrial Complex was the brainchild of Dwight D. Eisenhower. In fact, the establishment of the military academy, West Point, in 1802, birthed the idea. At a time when scientific knowledge was beginning to take center stage in colleges and universities, West Point, the first technical institute in the U.S., became the national center for scientific inquiry. “Under its’ auspices all sciences became pertinent to military purposes (Rudolph, 1962, p. 228).

Rudolph, H. (1962). The american college and university: A history. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press.