Civilian Indoctrination of the Military: World War I and Future Implications for the Military-Industrial Complex

This provocative new study traces the origins of the modern military-industrial complex to the Progressive ideology of the late nineteenth end early twentieth centuries. Borden examines the crucial changes that occurred in World War I and its aftermath, when the progressives deliberately broadened the functions and philosphoy of the military, with profound consequences for the social, political, and economic life of the nation.

Switching from pacifism to preparedness during World War I, the Progressives transformed the army–hitherto an exclusivist frontier force–into a potent instrument for social engineering. Borden explores this transformation and shows how the social management techniques and elitist biases of progressivism affected military training. Under the control of civilian administrators, the War Department was charged with effacing illiteracy, instilling patriotism, enforcing homogeneity, and morally enlightening the nation’s young men. The author discusses the continuing socialization of the military, as defense budgets begin to include social betterment programs to justify appropriations and ensure their uninterrupted flow. She looks at the intimate civilian-military ties that developed as the military increasingly involved itself in civil matters, producing a web of alliances that was to play a major role in creation of the military-industrial complex. A penetrating analysis of the use of the military for social control, this study will be of interest to academics and students in American history, military history, and political science.