John Thune
American politician
Robert McNamara had an illustrious career, serving as the U.S. Secretary of Defense under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson during the height of the Cold War. He was a key figure in the Vietnam War and later became the president of the World Bank, shifting its focus towards poverty reduction. McNamara’s life and decisions continue to be studied and debated today.
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About the Robert McNamara
Robert Strange McNamarawas 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.’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.
McNamara was born in San Francisco, California, and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley and Harvard Business School. He served in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. After World War II, Henry Ford II hired McNamara and a group of other Army Air Force veterans to work for Ford Motor Company. These “Whiz Kids” helped reform Ford with modern planning, organization, and management control systems. After briefly serving as Ford’s president, McNamara accepted appointment as secretary of defense.
McNamara became a close adviser to Kennedy and advocated the use of a blockade during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Kennedy and McNamara instituted a Cold War defense strategy of flexible response, which anticipated the need for military responses short of massive retaliation. McNamara consolidated intelligence and logistics functions of the Pentagon into two centralized agencies: the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Defense Supply Agency. During the Kennedy administration, McNamara presided over a build-up of U.S. soldiers in South Vietnam. After the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident, the number of U.S. soldiers in Vietnam escalated dramatically. McNamara and other U.S. policymakers feared that the fall of South Vietnam to a Communist regime would lead to the fall of other governments in the region.
McNamara grew increasingly skeptical of the efficacy of committing U.S. troops to South Vietnam. In 1968, he resigned as secretary of defense to become president of the World Bank. He served as president until 1981, shifting the focus of the World Bank from infrastructure and industrialization towards poverty reduction. After retiring, he served as a trustee of several organizations, including the California Institute of Technology and the Brookings Institution. In his later writings and interviews, he expressed regret for the decisions he made during the Vietnam War.
Frequently Asked Questions
Robert McNamara served as the U.S. Secretary of Defense for over seven years, making him the longest-serving secretary of defense in history.
Robert McNamara played a major role in promoting the U.S.’s involvement in the Vietnam War, with the number of U.S. soldiers in Vietnam escalating dramatically after the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident.
During Robert McNamara’s tenure as president of the World Bank, he shifted the focus of the organization from infrastructure and industrialization towards poverty reduction.
Robert McNamara was born in San Francisco, California, and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley and Harvard Business School.
Robert McNamara became a close adviser to President Kennedy and advocated the use of a blockade during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
In his later writings and interviews, Robert McNamara expressed regret for the decisions he made during the Vietnam War, growing increasingly skeptical of the efficacy of committing U.S. troops to South Vietnam.
Kennedy and Robert McNamara instituted a Cold War defense strategy of flexible response, which anticipated the need for military responses short of massive retaliation.
6 Quotes by Robert McNamara
- 1.
We burned to death 100,000 Japanese civilians in Tokyo – men, women and children. LeMay recognized that what he was doing would be thought immoral if his side had lost. But what makes it immoral if you lose and not immoral if you win?
Robert McNamaraAmerican businessman and Secretary of Defense (1916-2009)
- 2.
A computer does not substitute for judgment any more than a pencil substitutes for literacy. But writing without a pencil is no particular advantage.
Robert McNamaraAmerican businessman and Secretary of Defense (1916-2009)
- 3.
Coercion, after all, merely captures man. Freedom captivates him.
Robert McNamaraAmerican businessman and Secretary of Defense (1916-2009)
- 4.
One cannot fashion a credible deterrent out of an incredible action.
Robert McNamaraAmerican businessman and Secretary of Defense (1916-2009)
- 5.
Neither conscience nor sanity itself suggests that the United States is, should or could be the global gendarme.
Robert McNamaraAmerican businessman and Secretary of Defense (1916-2009)
- 6.
It would be our policy to use nuclear weapons wherever we felt it necessary to protect our forces and achieve our objectives.
Robert McNamaraAmerican businessman and Secretary of Defense (1916-2009)