( even though there was a war going on . . . )

News on this day in July, 1951 - President Truman delivered his mid-year/mid-century report on the status of the Nation. All signs were hopeful, if you discount the Korean War still raging out of control. In economic terms, America was doing all right. Unemployment was down, wages were up (slightly) and people were buying things. Business was seeing unprecedented profits. The future was rosey. But there was that elephant in the living room - The Korean War and our increased military spending. Shades of the Military-Industrial Complex Eisenhower would speak off less than a decade later. Our Military budget was growing in leaps and bounds each year. But the justification was our prominence in the world, our fighting the good fight against the Chinese and North Koreans and the Red Scare that kept telling us the Russians were going to overtake us any minute.

The Russians didn't overtake us, but our Military Budget certainly did.