Swords into plowshares? by Clarke Havener
Implications for Human Capital in the Aerospace & Defense Industry under a new Administration
T
he garden at the United Nations in New York City contains several beautiful sculptures and statues donated over the years by different countries. One of these, a large bronze statue from the
Soviet Union, represents the figure of a man holding a hammer in one hand and a sword in the other hand, a sword which he is making into a plowshare. The statue, “Let Us Beat Swords into Plowshares,” symbolizes man’s desire to put an end to war and convert the means of destruction into creative tools for the benefit of all mankind. The gift was given to the United Nations by the Soviet Union in 1959. Ironically, after the gift was given, there ensued the largest and most dangerous arms buildup in man’s history. Fought between the Soviet Union and the United States, this was a “cold” war which lasted almost thirty years. The defining moment of victory in the Cold War, captured in countless photographs of the Berlin Wall being razed, came at an overall weapons cost to the United States and the Soviet Union estimated to be upwards of $8 Trillion.