- In full:
- Robert Strange McNamara
- Born:
- June 9, 1916, San Francisco, California, U.S.
- Died:
- July 6, 2009, Washington, D.C. (aged 93)
- Title / Office:
- secretary of defense (1961-1968), United States
Robert S. McNamara
-
Who was Robert S. McNamara?
Robert S. McNamara (1916–2009) was the U.S. Secretary of Defense from 1961 to 1968. He revamped Pentagon operations and played a significant role in the nation’s military involvement in the Vietnam War.
After serving in World War II and working at Ford Motor Company, McNamara joined John F. Kennedy's administration. As secretary of defense, he modernized the armed forces and restructured budget procedures.
Although he initially advocated for military involvement in Vietnam, he later questioned the wisdom of the war and sought peace negotiations. In 1968, he left the Pentagon to become president of the World Bank, where he focused on the needs of Third World nations.
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What important role did he have in the U.S. government?
Robert S. McNamara served as the U.S. Secretary of Defense from 1961 to 1968. In this role, he revamped Pentagon operations and played a significant part in the nation’s military involvement in the Vietnam War. He modernized the armed forces, restructured budget procedures, and shifted military strategy to emphasize counterinsurgency techniques and second-strike nuclear capabilities. Initially, McNamara advocated for deepening U.S. involvement in Vietnam, but he later sought peace negotiations and opposed continued bombing of North Vietnam.
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Which U.S. presidents did McNamara serve under as Secretary of Defense?
Robert S. McNamara served as U.S. Secretary of Defense from 1961 to 1968. He initially took the position in the administration of John F. Kennedy. After Kennedy's assassination, McNamara continued to serve in the same role under President Lyndon B. Johnson. During his time as secretary, McNamara revamped Pentagon operations and played a significant role in the nation’s military involvement in the Vietnam War.
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What major conflict was McNamara involved in during his time as Secretary of Defense?
During his tenure as U.S. Secretary of Defense from 1961 to 1968, Robert S. McNamara was heavily involved in the Vietnam War.
Initially, McNamara advocated for increased military involvement in Vietnam, expressing optimism about the U.S.-backed Saigon regime's prospects. He became the main spokesperson for the war's operations and President Johnson's key deputy in its execution. However, as early as 1965, McNamara began to question the war, and by 1967, he openly sought peace negotiations. He initiated a secret investigation into the U.S. commitment to Vietnam and opposed further bombing of North Vietnam. His growing disillusionment with the war led to his departure from the Pentagon in February 1968.
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How did McNamara's decisions affect the Vietnam War?
As U.S. Secretary of Defense from 1961 to 1968, Robert S. McNamara played a significant role in the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War.
Initially, McNamara advocated for increased military involvement, expressing optimism about the U.S.-backed Saigon regime's prospects. He became the government’s main spokesperson for the war's operations and President Johnson's key deputy in its execution.
However, as early as 1965, McNamara began to privately question the war and by 1967, he was openly seeking peace negotiations. He initiated a secret investigation into the American commitment to Vietnam, later known as The Pentagon Papers, and opposed further bombing of North Vietnam. His growing disillusionment led to his departure from the Pentagon in February 1968.
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What did McNamara do after leaving the Department of Defense, and how has his legacy been viewed over time?
After leaving the Department of Defense in 1968, Robert McNamara became president of the World Bank, where he served for 13 years. During this time, he focused on the needs of Third World nations. McNamara retired from the World Bank in 1981 but remained active, addressing issues such as world hunger and East-West relations.
In 1995, he published In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam, discussing the errors and misjudgments during the Vietnam War era. McNamara's role in the Vietnam War has led to a complex legacy, with some criticizing his early advocacy for increased involvement and others acknowledging his later regrets and efforts to promote peace.
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Robert S. McNamara (born June 9, 1916, San Francisco, California, U.S.—died July 6, 2009, Washington, D.C.) was the U.S. secretary of defense from 1961 to 1968 who revamped Pentagon operations and who played a major role in the nation’s military involvement in the Vietnam War.
After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1937, McNamara earned a graduate degree at the Harvard Business School (1939) and later joined the Harvard faculty. Disqualified from combat duty during World War II by poor vision, he developed logistical systems for bomber raids and statistical systems for monitoring troops and supplies.
After the war, McNamara was one of the “Whiz Kids” hired to revitalize the Ford Motor Company. His plans, including the institution of strict cost-accounting methods and the development of both compact and luxury models, met with success, and McNamara rose rapidly in the corporate ranks. In 1960 he became the first person outside the Ford family to assume presidency of the company.
After just one month as Ford’s president, however, McNamara resigned to join the John F. Kennedy administration as secretary of defense. In his new post he successfully gained control of Pentagon operations and the military bureaucracy, encouraged the modernization of the armed forces, restructured budget procedures, and cut costs by refusing to spend money on what he believed were unnecessary or obsolete weapons systems. McNamara was also at the centre of a drive to alter U.S. military strategy from the “massive retaliation” of the Eisenhower years to a “flexible response,” emphasizing counterinsurgency techniques and second-strike nuclear-missile capability.
McNamara initially advocated the deepening military involvement of the United States in Vietnam. On visits to South Vietnam in 1962, 1964, and 1966, the secretary publicly expressed optimism that the National Liberation Front and its North Vietnamese allies would soon abandon their attempt to overthrow the U.S.-backed Saigon regime. He became the government’s chief spokesman for the day-to-day operations of the war and acted as Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson’s principal deputy in the war’s prosecution.
As early as 1965, however, McNamara had privately begun to question the wisdom of U.S. military involvement in Vietnam, and by 1967 he was openly seeking a way to launch peace negotiations. He initiated a top-secret full-scale investigation of the American commitment to Vietnam (later published as The Pentagon Papers), came out in opposition to continued bombing of North Vietnam (for which he lost influence in the Johnson administration), and in February 1968 left the Pentagon to become president of the World Bank.
In his 13-year tenure as head of that institution, McNamara displayed what was generally regarded as great sensitivity to the needs of Third World nations. He retired from the World Bank in 1981 but remained active in many other organizations. He addressed issues such as world hunger, East-West relations, and other policy matters. His policy papers were published in two volumes, and his book Blundering into Disaster: Surviving the First Century in a Nuclear Age (1986) discusses nuclear war.
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In 1995 McNamara published a memoir, In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam, in which he describes the anticommunist political climate of the era, mistaken assumptions of foreign policy, and misjudgments on the part of the military that combined to create the Vietnam debacle. In Errol Morris’s documentary film The Fog of War (2003), McNamara discusses his career in the Pentagon as well as U.S. failures in Vietnam.