The Secretary of Defense, so identified with the Vietnam war that it was often called "McNamara's War, died this week at the age of 93. He was made S of D by JFK in 1961 while he was head of Ford Motor Company and was considered at the time as one of a group known as the "whiz kids". Even thou he worked for the World Bank for years trying to improve life in rural areas in developing countries, it is fair to say that his handling of the Vietnam War was the key issue of the professional life. This is most likely the case because he came to admit, late in life, that we-and he-were "terribly wrong" in our involvement in the war there. In his book-In Retrospect: the Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam-published in 1995, he notes his "deep misgivings" about US policy as early as 1967 (the year this writer was drafted) and also that he did not think the bombing of the north would work. He told Time Magazine in 1991 he thought the bombing would not work "but that he went along with it 'because we had to try to prove it would not work, number one, and because other people thought it would work" (pardon me, but that does not sound like leadership to me, or for that matter, make any sense). RSM "continued to express public confidence" that the bombing would work if we applied enough of it, "despite (his) doubts". On a broader issue it is noted in this obit that RSM was responsible for changing US defense policy away from "massive retaliation" favored by John Foster Dulles to a policy of "flexible response".
(Source: "Robert S. McNamara, 93; manager of Vietnam War" by Peter Yost and Mike Feinsilber of The AP. In The Record on 7/7/09)
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