10th American History Unit IV- A Champion of Democracy presentation

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Title: 10th American History Unit IV- A Champion of Democracy

1
10th American HistoryUnit IV- A Champion of
Democracy

Chapter 16
Section 2- Atomic Anxiety

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Atomic Anxiety

The Main Idea
The growing power of, and military reliance on,
nuclear weapons helped create significant anxiety
in the American public in the 1950s.
Reading Focus
What was the hydrogen bomb, and when was it
developed?
What was the arms race, and what were its effects
in the United States?
How did Americans react to the growing threat of
nuclear war?

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Atomic Bombs (0334)
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The Hydrogen Bomb

Gets its power from fusing together hydrogen
atoms
Fusionthe process that creates the energy of the
sun and stars
A fusion bomb is hundreds of times more powerful
than an atomic bomb.

The Hydrogen Bomb

Developed during the 1940s and early 1950s
First detonated on November 1, 1952, on Eniwetak
Atoll in the Marshall Islands
3-mile-diameter fireball, 10.4 megatons of energy
Soviets successfully tested an H-bomb in August
of 1953.

Making the Bomb
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Nuclear Threat

As an unpredictable Cold War settled in, several
U.S. scientists argued for an all-out effort to
build an even more powerful weapon a hydrogen
bomb. Edward Teller, an émigré physicist, pushed
for a program to build what he called "the
Super"-- a hydrogen fusion bomb. "If the Russians
demonstrate a Super before we possess one," said
Teller, "our situation will be hopeless.
Andrei Sakharov, a brilliant young Russian
physicist, had also been given the task of
designing a fusion bomb for the Soviet Union.
Thanks to the Soviet spy Klaus Fuchs, Sakharov
was familiar with Teller's design, but he soon
decided on a different approach.

By 1952 the Super was ready for its first test.
The fireball of the first H-bomb grew to a
diameter of three miles and vaporized an entire
island in the Pacific atoll of Eniwetok. The
H-bomb's yield was ten megatons, a thousand times
greater than the atomic bomb dropped on
Hiroshima.

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1 Megaton Hydrogen Bomb Surface Blast Pressure
Damage
The fission bomb detonated over Hiroshima had an
explosive blast equivalent to 12,500 tons of TNT.
A 1 megaton hydrogen fusion bomb,
hypothetically detonated on the earth's surface,
has about 80 times the blast power of that 1945
explosion.
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Radius of destructive circle 1.7 miles12 pounds
per square inch
12

At the center lies a crater 200 feet deep and
1000 feet in diameter. The rim of this crater is
1,000 feet wide and is composed of highly
radioactive soil and debris. Nothing recognizable
remains within about 3,200 feet (0.6 miles) from
the center, except, perhaps, the remains of some
buildings' foundations. At 1.7 miles, only some
of the strongest buildings -- those made of
reinforced, poured concrete -- are still
standing. Ninety-eight percent of the population
in this area are dead.

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Radius 2.7 miles- 5 psi
5

Virtually everything is destroyed between the
12 and 5 psi rings. The walls of typical
multi-story buildings, including apartment
buildings, have been completely blown out. The
bare, structural skeletons of more and more
buildings rise above the debris as you approach
the 5 psi ring. Single-family residences within
this this area have been completely blown away --
only their foundations remain. Fifty percent of
the population between the 12 and 5 psi rings are
dead. Forty percent are injured.

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Radius 4.7 miles - 2 psi
2

Any single-family residences that have not
been completely destroyed are heavily damaged.
The windows of office buildings have been blown
away, as have some of their walls. The contents
of these buildings' upper floors, including the
people who were working there, are scattered on
the street. A substantial amount of debris
clutters the entire area. Five percent of the
population between the 5 and 2 psi rings are
dead. Forty-five percent are injured.

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Radius 7.4 miles -1 psi
1

Residences are moderately damaged. Commercial
buildings have sustained minimal damage.
Twenty-five percent of the population between the
2 and 1 psi rings have been injured, mainly by
flying glass and debris. Many others have been
injured from thermal radiation -- the heat
generated by the blast. The remaining
seventy-five percent are unhurt.

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1 Megaton Surface Blast Fallout
One of the effects of nuclear weapons detonated
on or near the earth's surface is the resulting
radioactive fallout. Immediately after the
detonation, a great deal of earth and debris,
made radioactive by the blast, is carried high
into the atmosphere, forming a mushroom cloud.
The material drifts downwind and gradually falls
back to earth, contaminating thousands of square
miles. This page describes the fallout pattern
over a seven-day period. Assumptions Wind
speed 15 mphWind direction due eastTime
frame 7 days
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1 Megaton Surface BlastFallout

3,000 Rem Distance 30 milesMuch more than a
lethal dose of radiation. Death can occur within
hours of exposure. About 10 years will need to
pass before levels of radioactivity in this area
drop low enough to be considered safe, by U.S.
peacetime standards.
900 RemDistance 90 milesA lethal dose of
radiation. Death occurs from two to fourteen
days.
300 RemDistance 160 milesCauses extensive
internal damage, including harm to nerve cells
and the cells that line the digestive tract, and
results in a loss of white blood cells. Temporary
hair loss is another result.
90 RemDistance 250 milesCauses a temporary
decrease in white blood cells, although there are
no immediate harmful effects. Two to three years
will need to pass before radioactivity levels in
this area drop low enough to be considered safe,
by U.S. peacetime standards

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The Hydrogen Bomb

What was the hydrogen bomb and when was it
developed?
Recall What reasons did the General Advisory
Committee of the Atomic Energy Commission give
for not developing a super bomb?
Predict What do you think would have happened
if the United States had never built a hydrogen
bomb?
Evaluate Why do you think the United States
chose not to use nuclear weapons during the
Korean War?

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Science Technology (0309)
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The Arms Race
Arms raceAn international contest between the
United States and the Soviet Union in which each
side was seeking a military advantage over the
other
New military strategiesLess reliance on
conventional forces, such as soldiers and tanks,
and more reliance on nuclear weapons,
brinkmanship, and massive retaliation These new
strategies made keeping the lead in the arms race
very important.
New bombs and technologyThe use of nuclear
weapons promoted the research and development of
new bombs and other technology.
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The Arms Race

New Bombs
Scientists worked to make bombs smaller and more
easily delivered to enemy targets.
Aircraft were the preferred means of delivering
nuclear weapons.
The U.S. fleet of bombers were spread out and
constantly on the move.
By the end of the 1950s, intercontinental
ballistic missiles, or ICBMs, were developed that
could carry nuclear weapons.

New Technology
In 1954 the Navy launched the first
nuclear-powered submarine.
The submarines could travel for months without
needing to refuel.
The nuclear-powered submarines were equipped with
nuclear weapons.
Nuclear power plants in the United States
produced electricity in 1957.

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ICBM

An intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM,
is a very long-range (greater than 5,500 km or
3,500 miles) ballistic missile typically designed
for nuclear weapons delivery, that is, delivering
one or more nuclear warheads. Due to their great
range and firepower, in an all-out nuclear war,
submarine and land-based ICBMs would carry most
of the destructive force, with nuclear-armed
bombers the remainder.

The Titan II weapon system fits into the same
category as the B-36 bomber, which was never used
in an armed conflict but did fulfill its mission.
The Titan II has also fulfilled its mission. The
mission of the Titan II weapon system was
deterrence. It has never been the intent of the
United States to launch a nuclear-tipped missile
against another nation.
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Nuclear Weapons Chart This chart shows the
world's current firepower. The center dot
represents the firepower of the World War II 3
megatons. The other dots represent the world's
present nuclear weaponry which equals 6,000 World
War II's or 18,000 megatons. The USA and the
USSR share this firepower with approximately
equal destructive capability.
The top left-hand circle enclosing 9 megatons
represents the weapons on just one Poseidon
submarine. This is equal to the firepower of
three World War II's and enough to destroy over
200 of the Soviet's largest cities.
The circle in the lower left-hand square
enclosing 24 megatons represents just one Trident
sub with the firepower of eight World War II's -
enough to destroy every city in the northern
hemisphere.
Just two squares on this chart (300 megatons)
represent enough firepower to destroy all the
large- and medium-size cities in the entire
world. Fewer than 3 squares (400 megatons)
represent the warheads removed from missiles in
the INF treaty. Although missiles were destroyed
the warheads were preserved and are being
deployed on other delivery vehicles. There was no
decrease in destructive power. IT IS A LONG LONG
WAY TO NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT. WE ARE SURROUNDED BY
FORESTS OF NUCLEAR DESTRUCTION. WE MUST GO ON.
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Nuclear Stockpiles

According to the Natural Resources Defense
Council, the U.S. currently maintains
approximately 10,000 nuclear warheads in various
states of readiness. It's believed that under
START III, that number will be reduced to 2,500.
Russia's plans are not known. At the end of 1997,
Russia's nuclear stockpile numbered 23,000
weapons. This included active, operational
forces retired, non-deployed warheads awaiting
dismantlement and weapons in reserve.

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Nuclear Tests

The United States conducted 1030 nuclear tests
from 1945 - 1992. The Soviet Union conducted 715
tests between 1949 and 1990. In September, 1996
the United Nations General Assembly voted to
adopt the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
(CTBT), which prohibits all "nuclear weapons test
explosions and all other nuclear explosions." As
of September 1998, 150 nations had signed the
treaty, and 21 nations had ratified it. Notable
exceptions are India and Pakistan, both of which
conducted nuclear tests in May, 1998.

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U.S.S. Nautilus

September 30, 1954, NAUTILUS became the first
commissioned nuclear powered ship in the United
States Navy.
NAUTILUS shattered all submerged speed and
distance records.
On July 23, 1958, NAUTILUS departed Pearl Harbor,
Hawaii under top secret orders to conduct
"Operation Sunshine," the first crossing of the
north pole by a ship.
At 1115 pm on August 3, 1958, NAUTILUS' second
Commanding Officer, Commander William R.
Anderson, USN, announced to his crew "For the
world, Our Country, and the Navy - the North
Pole." With 116 men aboard, NAUTILUS had
accomplished the "impossible," reaching the
geographic North Pole--90 degrees north.

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Nuclear Power (0245)
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Soviet Advances in Technology

The Soviets built new and improved weapons and
delivery systems.
In 1957 the Soviets launched the first-ever
artificial satellite, named Sputnik.
The Sputnik launches worried the United States.
Many thought the Soviets had surpassed American
scientists in terms of technical skill and
knowledge.
In 1958 the United States launched its own
satellite.
In July of 1958 Congress established the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA.

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The Space Race America and the Soviet Union
Compete to Send a Man Into Space (0132)
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Explorer I

The satellite was launched from Cape Canaveral
(now Cape Kennedy) in Florida at 1048 P.M. EST
on 31 January 1958 by the Jupiter-C vehicle--a
special modification of the Redstone ballistic
missile--that was designed, built, and launched
by the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) under
the direction of Dr. Wernher Von Braun.
Jupiter-C, a direct descendant of the German A-4
(V-2) rocket, was originally developed in
1955-1956 as a high-performance rocket for
testing purposes.

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The Arms Race

What was the arms race, and what were it effects
in the United States?
Describe How did U.S. military strategy change
during the Eisenhower administration?
Summarize Why was the first H-bomb impractical?
Evaluate What advantages did inter-continental
ballistic missiles have over nuclear-armed
bombers?

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The Arms Race

Recall Identify a nondestructive use of nuclear
energy?
Summarize Why did the United States keep B-52
bombers in the air at all times?

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American Reactions to the Threat of Nuclear War

After Pearl Harbor, Americans knew they could be
attacked by a foreign enemy.
After World War II, Americans knew that entire
cities could be destroyed by nuclear weapons.

Nuclear War

Many feared the streams of radioactive particles
produced by nuclear explosions.
Exposure to these particles can cause burns,
cancer, and birth defects.

Nuclear Fallout

During the testing of an H-bomb, bad weather
spread the nuclear fallout over a large area.
Radiation killed one sailor and forced many to
leave their homes permanently.

Marshall Islands
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American Reactions to the Threat of Nuclear War

Civil Defense
The FCDA helped educate and prepare the public
for nuclear emergencies.
The FCDA issued booklets and filmsfor example,
Duck and Cover.
Air-raid sirens were installed.
Operation Alert tested the readiness of urban
areas.

Nuclear Fears
Many Americans built bomb shelters.
Concern over nuclear fallout led to the Limited
Test-Ban Treaty.
Nuclear fears affected American culturemovies
had plots that centered on radiation fears and
comics featured battles in a nuclear world.

Military-Industrial Complex
Eisenhower used his farewell address to inform
Americans of this new danger.
Prior to the 1950s, the United States did not
have a permanent arms industry.
He warned of the potential misuse of power by the
arms industry.

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Federal Civil Defense Administration

The "Federal Civil Defense Administration,"
(FCDA) was organized by democratic president
Harry S. Truman (1884-1972)in 1952, shortly after
the first thermonuclear test which reestablished
the United States as the world's leading nuclear
power.
The new agency flooded the country with posters,
programs, and information about how to survive a
nuclear attack. This included instructions for
holding air raid drills in schools and detailed
plans on how to build a bomb shelter.
Nevertheless, experts ridiculed the agency as
almost totally ineffective. It wasn't until the
late 1950s that civil defense became a true
federal government priority.

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Surviving a Nuclear Blast

Nuclear air raid drills were part of everyday
life for schoolchildren in the late 1940s and
early '50s. Civil Defense in schools was
increased. The commonly known duck and cover
drills became routine. In this drill, the
students would drop to the floor and put their
heads between their knees with their backs to the
windows. Teachers were instructed to have their
children "duck and cover" at the sight of a
sudden bright flash.

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Operation Alert

In 1954, the United States Federal Civil Defense
Agency instituted an exercise called Operation
Alert. It was a civil defense drill that took
place on the same day in scores of major cities.
Citizens in what were called the "target" areas
were required to take cover for fifteen minutes.
At the same time civil defense officials tested
their readiness and their communications systems,
and federal officials practiced evacuating from
the capital. Even President Eisenhower left the
White House for a tent city outside Washington.
The following day newspapers routinely published
reports of the fictitious attacks naming the
number of bombs that were dropped in the mock
alerts, the number of cities hit, and the number
of casualties

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The Civil Defense A-Bomb Drill New York City
(0120)
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Surviving a Nuclear Blast Bomb Shelters
Bomb shelter is a place that is used for
protection from nuclear fallout or radiation.
Nuclear fallout is caused by the explosion of a
nuclear weapon. The first real threat of a
nuclear attack came around the early 1950's and
lasted until the early 1960's. This threat was
from communist Russia. This was the first real
scare to the people of the United States. But the
closest the US has ever came to an all-out
nuclear war was the Cuban Missile Crisis. More
than a hundred thousand people built bomb
shelters. Some companies started to produce
one-bedroom bomb shelters.
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The Fallout Shelter Protecting People from
Radiation Contamination (0335)
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Surviving a Nuclear Blast Bomb Shelters

Bomb shelters could be relatively inexpensive or
very expensive depending on what things you want,
such as a phone, toilet, chairs, tables, TV,
sofa, and other items.
A nuclear bomb warning - from six months to a few
days to a few minutes.
Six month warning
enough time to built an underground apartment or
condominium.
enough time to go get things like, water, can
foods, board games, furniture, generators (wood
preferable), books to read while in the shelter,
candles for light, matches to light the candles,
plates, silver ware, clothes, enough for you to
survive
Few days warning
just enough time to build an L-shaped trench
about fifteen feet wide and ten feet long. Then
take
a piece of plywood - cover one end of the hole
and then cover over the plywood with about one to
two feet of dirt.
The L-shaped trench is good protection from
radiation because there is a layer of mass
between you and the nuclear fallout.

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Surviving a Nuclear Blast Bomb Shelters

Bomb shelters costing from 100 to as much as
5,000 for an underground suite with phone and
toilet were selling like hotcakes.
Wall Street investors said the bomb shelter
business could gross up to 20 billion in the
coming years (if there would be coming years).
Survival stores around the nation sold air
blowers, filters, flashlights, fallout protection
suits, first aid kits and water. General Foods
and General Mills sold dry-packaged meals as
underground rations.

Families with well stocked shelters lived with
the fear that after a nuclear attack they'd be
invaded by an army of friends and neighbors who
neglected to build bunkers of their own. Many
ordered contractors to construct their shelters
in the dead of night so nosey neighbors wouldn't
see. One owner assured his neighbor that the bomb
shelter he was building was really a wine cellar.
Civil defense films assured the public that
simple precautions like walled-off basement
corners stocked with two weeks rations and a
radio tuned to Conelrad, the new emergency
network, would help them survive a nuclear
attack. But the government warned that a shoddy
homemade shelter could broil its occupants "to a
crisp" or squeeze them "like grapefruit."

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Surviving a Nuclear Blast Bomb Shelters
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Surviving a Nuclear Blast Bomb Shelters

Amongst expedient last-minute sheltering options
at home, even just simply pushing a heavy table
or pool table (one you can get under) into the
corner of a below ground basement, ideally the
corner with the grade (earth) highest up the wall
on the other side of it, can be surprisingly
effective. Or, if no heavy table readily
available, you can take internal doors off their
hinges and lay them atop two supports to create
your 'table'.
Pile on the two exposed sides, any additional
available mass-books, wood, etc. Have a small
entrance. Two little 4" air spaces. Cover up any
basement windows or other openings.

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Homebuilt Buried Tank Shelters
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Homebuilt Buried Tank Shelters
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The unforgettable 1962 release "Fallout Shelter"
took a more direct approach in conveying the
fears of teenagers everywhere over nuclear
annihilation. Its melodramatic storyline of a boy
who wants to share his family's shelter with his
girlfriend and his father's intervention is a
perfect blending of elements from the overt and
the allegorical/subtle Bomb song.
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Surviving a Nuclear Blast Bomb Shelters

Newspapers carried radiation readings beside
daily weather reports.
Popular Mechanics magazine published a fallout
shelter blueprint for the do-it-yourselfer.
Congress debated the merits of evacuating large
cities versus massive community shelters,
Homeowners improvised shelters from septic tanks,
concrete tubing, steel sheds and discarded
lumber.
Major airlines, Detroit automakers, IBM, the
phone company and Wall Street planned employee
shelters.
The Federal Reserve designated banks for postwar
check cashing.
A farmer in Iowa built a fallout shelter for 200
cows.

Public buildings with deep basements lined with
thick underground concrete were designated as
shelters in case of an attack by the Soviet
Union.
Hollywood got into the mood and began producing
nuclear war doomsday films, including "On The
Beach," "The Last Man On Earth," "The Day the
World Ended," "Atomic Kid," and "Dr.
Strangelove.
Television produced its own prime time doomsday.
In the premiere episode of the classic series
"The Twilight Zone," a young astronaut played by
actor Earl Holliman returns to Earth to discover
that a nuclear war has left him, like Adam,
alone.
In the late 1950s, a public opinion poll showed
that 40 percent of Americans were seriously
considering building a shelter.

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Nuclear Winter

The combination of darkness and killing frosts,
combined with high doses of radiation from
nuclear fallout, would severely damage plant life
in the region. The extreme cold, high radiation
levels, and the widespread destruction of
industrial, medical, and transportation
infrastructures along with food supplies and
crops would trigger a massive death toll from
starvation, exposure, and disease. It was also
thought that nitrogen oxides generated by the
blasts would degrade the ozone layer this
phenomenon was observed in the first
thermonuclear blasts, which had unanticipated
degrading effects on the ozone. These effects
have since been mitigated by ozone regeneration,
but the effect of a full-scale war would
undoubtedly be much greater. Secondary effects
from ozone depletion and increases in ultraviolet
radiation would be significant, with impacts on
the viability of most human staple agricultural
crops as well as disruption of ocean food chains
by killing off phytoplankton.

Nuclear winter is a hypothetical global climate
condition that was predicted to be a possible
outcome of a large-scale nuclear war. It was
thought that severely cold weather would be
caused by detonating large numbers of nuclear
weapon, especially over flammable targets such as
cities, large amounts of smoke and soot would be
injected into the Earth's stratosphere.
This layer of particles would significantly
reduce the amount of sunlight that reached the
surface, and could potentially remain in the
stratosphere for weeks or even years (smoke and
soot arising from the burning petroleum fuels and
plastics absorbs sunlight much more effectively
than smoke from burning). The smoke and soot
would be shepherded by strong west-to-east winds,
forming a uniform belt of particles encircling
the northern hemisphere from 30 to 60 latitude.
These thick black clouds could block out much
Sun's light for a period as long as several
weeks, causing surface temperatures to drop by as
much as 20C for several weeks.

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Military-Industrial complex

A close and symbiotic relationship between a
nation's armed forces, its private industry, and
associated political and commercial interests.
In such a system, the military is dependent on
industry to supply material and other support,
while the defense industry depends on government
for a steady revenue stream.