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Home › Politics

Robert McNamara Dies | 07/06/2009 9:40 am

Robert McNamara, Ex-Kennedy Defense Secretary, Vietnam War Architect, Dies at Age 93

Many of McNamara’s good deeds were overshadowed by mass escalation of increasingly unpopular Vietnam War.
By The Staff at wowOwow.com
Image: Wikipedia

Kennedy family confidant and former U.S. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara died in his sleep today at the age of 93.

"His age just caught up with him," his wife Diana, told Reuters. "He was not ill. He died peacefully in his sleep."

McNamara served as a key architect of the U.S. war in Vietnam — sometimes called "McNamara’s War" — which left 58,000 Americans dead. He served under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, and also advised JFK during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, when the United States and the Soviet Union were on the brink of nuclear war. McNamara also became the first outsider to become president of the family-run Ford Motor company, served as president of the World Bank, and was a nuclear arms expert. As defense secretary, he boosted the Pentagon’s nuclear arsenal and streamlined the agency.

When Kennedy took office, only 500 Americans were in the South Asian nation, but by the time McNamara left his post in 1968, there were more than 500,000. Although he and other U.S. officials portrayed the Vietnam War as a necessary anti-communism battle in the Cold War, McNamara acknowledged later that they underestimated Vietnamese nationalism and opposition to the U.S.-backed government in Saigon.

"The conflict within South Vietnam itself had all of the characteristics of a civil war, and we didn’t look upon it as largely a civil war, and we weren’t measuring our progress as one would have in what was largely a civil war," he told CNN.

McNamara is survived by three children and his second wife, whom he married in 2004.

Read more about: communism, Defense Secretary, Dies, JFK, John F. Kennedy, News, Pentagon, Politics, Robert McNamara, U.S., Vietnam War

49 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

deber B
Marjorie, my pleasure to provide the support documents.   As you know, the Middle East is one of the areas I read alot about.
By deber B on 07/06/2009 5:24 pm
Maggie W

George Piro was the Middle Eastern agent who spent many hours with Saddam, with Saddam never suspecting he was American intelligence.   Saddam was won over with sympathy/ camaraderie from George along with Doritos, a Saddam favorite.  Piro also made certain Saddam had a very small garden ( 3 X 5) to make him open up a bit.  Prior to his hanging, Piro spent over 60 hours with Saddam… and he admitted that he conjured up WMD to put fear into Iran.   The CIA/FBI have approximately 329 Middle Eastern agents in the field. ( They desperately need more).  Piro’s information was excellent in that it revealed Saddam was not so much worried about the USA as he was about Iran.  According to George Piro, Saddam never believed the USA would feel threatened by a country like Iraq. 

There is no doubt that Saddam used WMD on his own people… 4000 Kurds were gassed and placed in shallow graves.  But there is no evidence that Saddam was willing or had the capacity to go globally.  Saddam had plenty of money for his own sadistic pleasures, but it stopped there.  When the  first coalitions arrived, they found oil rigs alright… platforms made of wood and rotting and in total disrepair.   Totally worthless.  Thanks to the Americans and the Brits, many of those wells are finally operative, and used for Iraqis only.  Car sales are up in Iraq;  gasoline prices are not a worry.

We need to remember that GWB did not singly decide to invade Iraq.  He has said that one of his regrets was lack of truly accurate intelligence in that area.   That being said, yes, the whole thing was a horrible blunder.  But, the President relied on intelligence from the USA, Great Britain, and Germany.   That’s a very strong threesome.   I am not a fan of GWB.  But I cannot believe that he would have ever sent young men and women in harm’s way unless he had a very good reason.  

By Maggie W on 07/06/2009 7:14 pm
deber B
Thank you, Maggie.
By deber B on 07/07/2009 5:11 am
Marjorie C.

Maggie:  But I cannot believe that he would have ever sent young men and women in harm’s way unless he had a very good reason.  

Neither do I.  Whatever personality flaws GWB might have had, I do believe he always had America’s interest at heart.  It is well past time to put the Bush bashing aside because there is no basis for it.  At his core, he is a decent man.

Thanks for the excellent article.       

By Marjorie C. on 07/07/2009 5:43 am
F P
Proof?  NO, Deber.  There were no WMD’s and Cheney has admitted that just recently.  As for the Nigerian yellowcake—another figment conjured up by that corrupt administration. 
By F P on 07/07/2009 6:59 am
deber B
Perhaps not at the time we entered Iraq but there is ample proof that they did, in fact, have it.   They had more than enough time to move it out. 
By deber B on 07/07/2009 7:02 am
S G
Marjorie I’m for keeping our noses out of any country ( no matter the party) we have no business being in. Vietnam and Iraq are the same in my eyes. We had and have no place in either.
By S G on 07/06/2009 2:13 pm
phyllis Doyle Pepe
Who said I am forgiving? How did you come to that conclusion? I said it was carried out by MEN––that means ALL including the military big wigs that lied through their teeth. George Bush is in a class by himself––I’m not going to rehash all that crap. Suffice it to say, blame goes all around. By the way––Kennedy died in 1963––so when McNamara left it was 1968—war escalated under Johnson.
By phyllis Doyle Pepe on 07/06/2009 2:35 pm
F P
Yep Phyllis—Johnson escalated that war not Kennedy—there is some proof according to Arthur Schlesinger  that Kennedy was not going to continue the war.  In ‘63 there were only military and civilian advisors in Vietnam.
By F P on 07/07/2009 7:02 am
Martha Vinyard
I’ll shed no tears for Robert McNamara. He did not serve the American people well. I think LBJ’s handling of the war with McNamara’s assistance was absolutely criminal. When Viet-Nam is taken together with the great society, one of the worst presidents in our history.
By Martha Vinyard on 07/06/2009 4:17 pm
Lizzie R.
I thought this thread was about  McNamara’s death. Why did it morph into another argument about Bush/Obama/Iraq like so many threads ultimately do with the same people changing the subject matter?  McMamara later came to regret his actions re Vietnam. He lived a long life. Does anybody care?
By Lizzie R. on 07/06/2009 11:01 pm
Marjorie C.

Lizzie:  He lived a long life.

In contrast to millions of others whose lives were cut short or severely damaged because of his misjudgement.  It is noble of him to regret his mistakes, and to admit to them.  What else can be said?      

By Marjorie C. on 07/07/2009 5:54 am
F P
Not noble. Marjorie but at least he did admit them unlike a recent president and his cabal.
By F P on 07/07/2009 8:36 am
Lizzie R.
Actually, neither my husband  nor I were fond of him as he had to serve 2 tours in Vietnam. I just said what I did as the thread was so off topic
By Lizzie R. on 07/08/2009 12:51 am
Rebecca G
an "Acceptable Loss"
By Rebecca G on 07/10/2009 1:15 pm
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