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In 1949, the U.S. Senate voted to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization by a vote of 82-13, obviously not a unanimous decision. It is interesting to note where the 13 dissenting votes came from. Ten were from states west of the Mississippi River. Of the three east of the Mississippi, one was from Ohio, one from Indiana, and one from Vermont. Except for one from Oregon, no senator from a state that bordered the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean voted no. Among those voting no, 11 were Republicans, and two were Democrats. All 22 senators from former Confederate states, all Democrats at the time, voted to join NATO.
Last month, the Senate voted for a bill to fund Ukraine, Taiwan and Israel. It passed 70-29. Today, of the 22 senators from the Old Confederacy, 18 are Republicans, and four are Democrats. Twelve of these Republicans voted no. Eleven senators who voted no were from west of the Mississippi, outside the South. One senator from the states of Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and Wisconsin voted no, along with two senators from Vermont. Outside the South, no senator from a state bordering either ocean voted no, except one from Oregon. Twenty-six Republicans, two Democrats and one independent voted no.
Other than the South, the 1949 votes for NATO and the recent votes for military support for Ukraine, Taiwan and Israel came from similar areas of the country and with more support from Democrats than Republicans. Interestingly, during most of our lives, calls for restraint in defense spending have come from coastal Democrats, not flyover Republicans.
The amount Americans are willing to spend on maintaining a strong military presence in the world has varied over time. U.S. defense spending was under 2% of GDP before World War II. It boomed to over 40% during the war, subsided briefly to under 10% after the war, and rose to more than 10% after entry into Korea until the end of the Vietnam era. It remained above 6% until the fall of the Soviet Union. It has averaged 4.5% since 1990. Currently, the United States spends $994 billion a year on defense, which is 3.6% of the U.S. $27.4 trillion GDP, well below the post-World War II average of 7.5%.
In 1949, four years after the end of the Second World War, the democratically elected representatives of our nation made a conscious decision to commit to maintaining a significant military presence in the world. Will this commitment continue?•
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Bohanon and Horowitz are professors of economics at Ball State University. Send comments to ibjedit@ibj.com.
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