Historical Figure
Robert McNamara
d. 2009
American businessman and government official (1916–2009)
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Biography
Robert Strange McNamara was an American businessman and government official who served as the eighth United States secretary of defense from 1961 to 1968 under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson at the height of the Cold War. He remains the longest-serving secretary of defense, having remained in office over seven years. He played a major role in promoting the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. McNamara was responsible for the institution of systems analysis in public policy, which developed into the discipline known today as policy analysis.
In Their Own Words (5)
Neither conscience nor sanity itself suggests, that the United States is, or should or could be the global gendarme.
In: Charles E. Miller (2010) Conscience, Denied, p. 21 , 2010
You can never substitute emotion for reason. I still would allow a place for intuition in this process, but not emotion. They say I am a power gabber. But knowledge is power, and I am giving them knowledge, so they will have more power. Can't they see that?
In: Henry L. Trewhitt (1971) McNamara, p. 119 , 1971
It would be our policy to use nuclear weapons wherever we felt it, necessary to protect our forces and achieve our objectives.
In: Herbert Y. Schandler (1975), US Policy on the Use of Nuclear Weapons, 1945-1975. p. 55 , 1975
I would rather have a wrong decision made than no decision at all.
Quoted in: Charles A. Stevenson (2006), SECDEF: The Nearly Impossible Job of Secretary of Defense, p. 28 , 2006
Lesson #7: Belief and seeing are both often wrong.Lesson #8: Be prepared to reexamine your reasoning.Lesson #9: In order to do good, you may have to engage in evil.Lesson #10: Never say never.Lesson #11: You can't change human nature...
Robert S. McNamara (2004), Official Teacher's Guide for The Fog of War, p. 5 , 2004
Timeline
The story of Robert McNamara, told in moments.
Became president of Ford Motor Company, the first person outside the Ford family to hold the title. He'd been one of the "Whiz Kids," a group of Army Air Forces veterans who modernized Ford with statistical analysis after WWII. He held the job for five weeks.
Appointed Secretary of Defense by JFK. Served seven years, the longest tenure in the role's history. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, he was one of Kennedy's closest advisors, advocating the naval blockade over an air strike.
Privately concluded the Vietnam War was unwinnable even as he publicly defended escalation. Commissioned the Pentagon Papers, a secret history of the war. The contradiction ate at him for decades.
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