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Robert Strange McNamara (born June 9, 1916) is an American business executive and a former United States Secretary of Defense. McNamara served as U.S. Secretary of Defense from 1961 to 1968, during the Vietnam War. He resigned that position to become President of the World Bank (1968-1981). McNamara was responsible for the institution of systems analysis in public policy, which developed into the discipline known today as policy analysis.[1] Public domain LBJ library photo. ...
The United States Secretary of Defense (SECDEF) is the head of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), concerned with the armed services and military matters. ...
is the 21st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
February 29 is a day added into a leap year of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
John Kennedy and JFK redirect here. ...
LBJ redirects here. ...
Roswell L. Gilpatric (1906-1996), Deputy Secretary of Defense, 1961-1964; Chairman, Task Force on Nuclear Proliferation, 1964. ...
This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...
Paul Nitze Paul Henry Nitze (January 16, 1907 – October 19, 2004) was a high-ranking United States government official who helped shape Cold War defense policy over the course of numerous presidential administrations. ...
Thomas Sovereign Gates, Jr. ...
Clark McAdams Clifford (December 25, 1906 – October 10, 1998) was a highly influential American lawyer who served Presidents Truman, Kennedy, and Johnson and Jimmy Carter, serving as Secretary of Defense for Johnson. ...
World Bank Group logo The World Bank Group (WBG) is a family of five international organizations responsible for providing finance and advice to countries for the purposes of economic development and eliminating poverty. ...
Year 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
For other uses, see June (disambiguation). ...
AUGUST 25 1981 US Marine Sean Vance is Born on the 25th of August {ear nav|1981}} Year 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Gregorian calendar). ...
George David Woods (1901 – 1982) was a U.S. banker. ...
Alden Winship Clausen (born February 17, 1923) is a former President of the World Bank. ...
is the 160th day of the year (161st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1916 (MCMXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Friday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ...
Oakland redirects here. ...
Alma mater is Latin for nourishing mother. It was used in ancient Rome as a title for the mother goddess, and in Medieval Christianity for the Virgin Mary. ...
Sather Tower (the Campanile) looking out over the San Francisco Bay and Mount Tamalpais. ...
Emblem of the PC(USA) The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) or PC(USA) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States. ...
Robert McNamara (born August 18, 1987 in Southport, Australia) is an Australian figure skater. ...
is the 160th day of the year (161st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1916 (MCMXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Friday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ...
The United States Secretary of Defense (SECDEF) is the head of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), concerned with the armed services and military matters. ...
The United States Secretary of Defense (SECDEF) is the head of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), concerned with the armed services and military matters. ...
Year 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Combatants Republic of Vietnam United States Republic of Korea Thailand Australia New Zealand The Philippines National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam Democratic Republic of Vietnam People’s Republic of China Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea Strength US 1,000,000 South Korea 300,000 Australia 48,000...
The World Bank logo The World Bank (the Bank) is a part of the World Bank Group (WBG), is a bank that makes loans to developing countries for development programs with the stated goal of reducing poverty. ...
Year 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
AUGUST 25 1981 US Marine Sean Vance is Born on the 25th of August {ear nav|1981}} Year 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Gregorian calendar). ...
Systems analysis is the interdisciplinary branch of science, dealing with analysis of systems, often prior to their automation as computer systems, and the interactions within those systems. ...
This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
Early life and career Robert Strange McNamara was born in Oakland, California, where his father was the sales manager of a wholesale shoe company; he got his middle name "Strange" from his mother's maiden name. He attended Piedmont High School in Piedmont, California where he was president of the Rigma Lions boys club in 1933. He became an Eagle Scout, and graduated in 1937 from the University of California, Berkeley, with a Bachelor of Arts in economics with minors in mathematics and philosophy, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in his sophomore year, and earned a varsity letter in crew. He was a member of the UC Berkeley Golden Bear Battalion, Army ROTC. He then earned a master's degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration in 1939. Oakland is the name of several places in the United States of America: Oakland, Alabama Oakland, California (The best-known city with this name) Oakland, Florida Oakland, Maine Oakland, Maryland Oakland, Michigan Oakland, Missouri Oakland, Nebraska Oakland, New Jersey Oakland, Oklahoma Oakland, Oregon Oakland, Pennsylvania Oakland, Rhode Island Oakland, Tennessee...
This article is about the U.S. state. ...
Eagle Scout is the highest rank attainable by a Scout in the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), and is also used as a title of a Scout who has achieved this honor. ...
Year 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Sather Tower (the Campanile) looking out over the San Francisco Bay and Mount Tamalpais. ...
A B.A. issued from the University of Tennessee. ...
Face-to-face trading interactions on the New York Stock Exchange trading floor. ...
For other meanings of mathematics or uses of math and maths, see Mathematics (disambiguation) and Math (disambiguation). ...
For other uses, see Philosophy (disambiguation). ...
The Phi Beta Kappa Society is an honor society which considers its mission to be fostering and recognizing excellence in undergraduate liberal arts and sciences. ...
This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
Harvard Business School (HBS) is one of the graduate schools of Harvard University, and is one of the worlds leading management schools. ...
Year 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
After earning his MBA, McNamara worked a year for the accounting firm Price Waterhouse in San Francisco. In August 1940 he returned to Harvard to teach in the Business School and became the highest paid and youngest Assistant Professor at the time. Following his involvement there in a program to teach the analytical approaches used in business to officers of the Army Air Forces (AAF), he entered the Army as a captain in early 1943, serving most of the war with the AAF's Office of Statistical Control. One major responsibility was the analysis of U.S. bombers' efficiency and effectiveness, especially the B-29 forces commanded by Major General Curtis LeMay in China and the Mariana Islands.[2] He left active duty in 1946 with the rank of lieutenant colonel and with a Legion of Merit. MBA redirects here. ...
It has been suggested that Accounting scholarship be merged into this article or section. ...
A former PwC office building (Southwark Towers) in London, England. ...
This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ...
Year 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full 1940 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, and a member of the Ivy League. ...
Harvard Business School, officially named the Harvard Business School: George F. Baker Foundation, and also known as HBS, is one of the graduate schools of Harvard University. ...
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) was the aviation component of the United States Army primarily during World War II. The title of Army Air Forces succeeded the prior name of Army Air Corps in June 1941 during preparation for expected combat in what came to be known as...
For other uses, see Captain (disambiguation). ...
The Boeing B-29 Superfortress (Boeing Model 341/345) was a four-engine heavy bomber flown by the United States Army Air Force. ...
Curtis Emerson LeMay (November 15, 1906–October 3, 1990) was a general in the United States Air Force and the vice presidential running mate of independent candidate George C. Wallace in 1968. ...
The Mariana Islands (also the Marianas; up to the early 20th century sometimes called Ladrones Islands, from Spanish Islas de los Ladrones meaning Islands of Thieves) are an archipelago made up by the summits of 15 volcanic mountains in the north-western Pacific Ocean between the 12th and 21st parallels...
In the U.S. Army, Air Force and Marine Corps, a lieutenant colonel is a commissioned officer superior to a major and inferior to a colonel. ...
The Legion of Merit is a military decoration of the United States armed forces that is awarded for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements. ...
In 1946 McNamara joined Ford Motor Company, due to the influence of a Colonel he worked under named Charles "Tex" Thornton. Thornton had read an article in Life magazine which reported that the company was in dire need of reform. He was one of ten former WW II officers known as the "Whiz Kids", who helped the company to stop its losses and administrative chaos by implementing modern planning, organization, and management control systems. Starting as manager of planning and financial analysis, he advanced rapidly through a series of top-level management positions. McNamara opposed Ford's planned Edsel automobile and worked to stop the program even before the first car rolled off the assembly line. He eventually succeeded in ending the program in November 1960. During his role as an executive, McNamara placed a high emphasis on safety standards, introducing in the Lifeguard package both the seat belt, and a collapsible steering column.[3] McNamara also came close to terminating the Lincoln, forcing product planners to reinvent the car for 1961. On November 9, 1960, McNamara became the first president of Ford from outside the family of Henry Ford. McNamara received substantial credit for Ford's expansion and success in the postwar period. “Ford†redirects here. ...
This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
A cover of Life Magazine from 1911 Life has been the name of two notable magazines published in the United States. ...
The Whiz Kids referred to members of United States President John F. Kennedys administration, led by Robert S. McNamara. ...
For planning in AI, see automated planning and scheduling. ...
The Edsel was a make of automobile manufactured by the Ford Motor Company during the 1958, 1959, and 1960 model years. ...
Year 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Lincoln is an American luxury automobile brand, operated under the Ford Motor Company. ...
is the 313th day of the year (314th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
“Ford†redirects here. ...
Henry Ford (1919) Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was the founder of the Ford Motor Company and father of modern assembly lines used in mass production. ...
“Ford†redirects here. ...
Secretary of Defense President-elect John F. Kennedy first offered the post of secretary of defense to former secretary Robert A. Lovett. Lovett declined but recommended McNamara; Kennedy had him approached by Sargent Shriver regarding either the Treasury or the Defense cabinet post less than five weeks after McNamara had become president at Ford. At first McNamara turned down the Treasury position; but eventually, after discussions with his family, McNamara accepted Kennedy's invitation to serve as Secretary of Defense. Image File history File links President_Kennedy_and_Secretary_McNamara_1962. ...
Image File history File links President_Kennedy_and_Secretary_McNamara_1962. ...
John Kennedy and JFK redirect here. ...
A President-elect is a candidate who has officially been elected President, but who has not yet acceded to his Office, as it is still occupied by the out-going President. ...
John Kennedy and JFK redirect here. ...
Robert A. Lovett Robert Abercrombie Lovett (14 September 1895 - 7 May 1986) was the fourth United States Secretary of Defense, serving in the cabinet of President Harry S. Truman from 1951 to 1953 and in this capacity, directed the Korean War. ...
Robert Sargent Shriver, Jr. ...
“Ford†redirects here. ...
The United States Secretary of Defense is the head of the United States Department of Defense, concerned with the armed services and The Secretary is a member of the Presidents Cabinet. ...
Although not especially knowledgeable about defense matters, McNamara immersed himself in the subject, learned quickly, and soon began to apply an "active role" management philosophy, in his own words "providing aggressive leadership questioning, suggesting alternatives, proposing objectives and stimulating progress." He rejected radical organizational changes, such as those proposed by a group Kennedy had appointed, headed by Sen. W. Stuart Symington, which would have abolished the military departments, replaced the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) with a single chief of staff, and established three functional unified commands. McNamara accepted the need for separate services but argued that "at the end we must have one defense policy, not three conflicting defense policies. And it is the job of the Secretary and his staff to make sure that this is the case." William Stuart Symington (June 26, 1901–December 14, 1988) was a U.S. businessman and political figure. ...
Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States of America symbol The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is a group comprising the Chiefs of service of each major branch of the armed services in the United States armed forces. ...
Initially, the basic policies outlined by President Kennedy in a message to Congress on March 28, 1961 guided McNamara in the reorientation of the defense program. Kennedy rejected the concept of first-strike attack and emphasized the need for adequate strategic arms and defense to deter nuclear attack on the United States and its allies. U.S. arms, he maintained, must constantly be under civilian command and control, and the nation's defense posture had to be "designed to reduce the danger of irrational or unpremeditated general war." The primary mission of U.S. overseas forces, in cooperation with allies, was "to prevent the steady erosion of the Free World through limited wars." Kennedy and McNamara rejected massive retaliation for a posture of flexible response. The United States wanted choices in an emergency other than "inglorious retreat or unlimited retaliation," as the president put it. Out of a major review of the military challenges confronting the United States initiated by McNamara in 1961 came a decision to increase the nation's "limited warfare" capabilities. These moves were significant because McNamara was abandoning President Dwight D. Eisenhower's policy of massive retaliation in favor of a flexible response strategy that relied on increased U.S. capacity to conduct limited, non-nuclear warfare. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (400x607, 54 KB) Summary Department of Defense, Office of Civil Defense, 1961 Licensing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (400x607, 54 KB) Summary Department of Defense, Office of Civil Defense, 1961 Licensing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
The old United States Civil Defense logo. ...
Cover of Fallout Protection, 1961 Fallout Protection - What To Know And Do About Nuclear Attack, was an official government booklet released in December of 1961 by the United States Department of Defense and The Office of Civil Defense. ...
Type Bicameral Houses Senate House of Representatives President of the Senate President pro tempore Dick Cheney, (R) since January 20, 2001 Robert C. Byrd, (D) since January 4, 2007 Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, (D) since January 4, 2007 Members 535 plus 4 Delegates and 1 Resident Commissioner Political...
is the 87th day of the year (88th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
First-strike attack was greatly feared during the Cold War and was the belief that either side would attack the other, especially with nuclear weapons, without warning. ...
Civilian control of the military is a doctrine in military and political science that places ultimate responsibility for a countrys strategic decision-making in the hands of the civilian political leadership, rather than professional military officers. ...
Flexible response was a nuclear strategy implemented by John F. Kennedy in 1961 to supersede the previous policy of Massive Retaliation. ...
Dwight David Eisenhower, born David Dwight Eisenhower (October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969), nicknamed Ike, was a five-star General in the United States Army and U.S. politician, who served as the thirty-fourth President of the United States (1953–1961). ...
He also created the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Defense Supply Agency. The Defense Intelligence Agency, or DIA, is a major producer and manager of military intelligence for the United States Department of Defense. ...
Anti-communism The Kennedy administration placed particular emphasis on improving ability to counter communist "wars of national liberation," in which the enemy avoided head-on military confrontation and resorted to political subversion and guerrilla tactics. As McNamara said in his 1962 annual report, "The military tactics are those of the sniper, the ambush, and the raid. The political tactics are terror, extortion, and assassination." In practical terms, this meant training and equipping U.S. military personnel, as well as such allies as South Vietnam, for counterinsurgency operations. This article is about communism as a form of society and as a political movement. ...
Guerrilla redirects here. ...
Anthem Thanh niên Hà nh Khúc (Call to the Citizens) Capital Saigon Language(s) Vietnamese Government Republic Last President¹ Duong Van Minh Last Prime minister Vu Van Mau Historical era Cold War - Regime change June 14, 1955 - Dissolution April 30, 1975 Area - 1973 173,809 km² 67,108...
Counter-insurgency is the combating of insurgency, by the government (or allies) of the territory in which the insurgency takes place. ...
Increased attention to conventional strength complemented these special forces preparations. In this instance he called up reserves and also proceeded to expand the regular armed forces. Whereas active duty strength had declined from approximately 3,555,000 to 2,483,000 between 1953 (the end of the Korean conflict) and 1961, it increased to nearly 2,808,000 by 30 June 1962. Then the forces leveled off at around 2,700,000 until the Vietnam military buildup began in 1965, reaching a peak of nearly 3,550,000 by mid-1968, just after McNamara left office. The Korean War (Korean: 한국전쟁), from June 25, 1950 to July 27, 1953, was a conflict between North Korea and South Korea. ...
is the 181st day of the year (182nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Crisis In the broad arena of national security, McNamara played a principal part under both presidents Kennedy and Johnson, especially during international crises. The first occurred in April 1961, when a U.S.-supported Cuban exile group attempted to overthrow the Castro regime. The failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion, effected by the Kennedy administration, proved embarrassing. When McNamara left office in 1968, he told reporters that his principal regret was recommending to Kennedy that he launch the Bay of Pigs operation, that "could have been recognized as an error at the time." Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (born on August 13, 1926) is the current President of Cuba but on indefinite medical hiatus. ...
Belligerents Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces Cuban exiles trained by the United States Commanders Fidel Castro José Ramón Fernández Ernesto Che Guevara Francisco Ciutat de Miguel John F. Kennedy Grayston Lynch Pepe San Roman Erneido Oliva Strength 15,000 1,511 Cuban exiles 2 CIA agents Casualties and losses...
Belligerents Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces Cuban exiles trained by the United States Commanders Fidel Castro José Ramón Fernández Ernesto Che Guevara Francisco Ciutat de Miguel John F. Kennedy Grayston Lynch Pepe San Roman Erneido Oliva Strength 15,000 1,511 Cuban exiles 2 CIA agents Casualties and losses...
More successful, from his perspective, was participating in the Executive Committee, a small advisory group who counseled Kennedy during the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. He supported the president's quarantine of Cuba in preventing Soviet ships from delivering more weapons. During that crisis, the Pentagon alerted the U.S. military, ready to enforce the administration's demand that the Soviet Union withdraw its missiles from Cuba, believing that the outcome, "demonstrated the readiness of our armed forces to meet a sudden emergency," and "highlighted the importance of maintaining a properly balanced Defense establishment." The Executive Committee of the National Security Council (commonly referred to as simply the Executive Committee or ExComm) was a body of U.S. officials that convened to advise President John F. Kennedy during the fateful days of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. ...
For the video game based on the possible outcomes of this event, see Cuban Missile Crisis: The Aftermath. ...
A blockade is any effort to prevent supplies, troops, information or aid from reaching an opposing force. ...
CCCP redirects here. ...
Similarly, he regarded using some 24,000 soldiers and dozens of Navy ships to put down a revolution in the Dominican Republic, in April 1965, as another successful test of the "readiness and capabilities of the U.S. defense establishment to support our foreign policy."
As Secretary of Defense, his principal goal was deterrence — convincing Moscow that a nuclear attack against the West would trigger U.S. retaliation against Russia, thereby, eliminating further Soviet military pursuits. McNamara also wanted to give the Soviets reason to refrain from attacking cities. "The very strength and nature of the Alliance forces," he said in the Ann Arbor speech, "make it possible for us to retain, even in the face of a massive surprise attack, sufficient reserve striking power to destroy an enemy society if driven to it." For other uses, see Moscow (disambiguation). ...
Ann Arbor redirects here. ...
Soon, he de-emphasized the no-cities approach, for several reasons: public fear that planning limited use of nuclear weapons would render nuclear war feasible; after identifying additional targets in the no-cities strategy, the U.S. Air Force requested more nuclear weapons; the assumption that such a policy would require major air and missile defense, necessitating a vast, expanded budget; and negative Soviet and North Atlantic Treaty Organization reactions. McNamara turned to "assured destruction," which he characterized as the capability "to deter deliberate nuclear attack upon the United States and its allies by maintaining the ability to inflict unacceptable damage upon any aggressor or aggressors after absorbing a surprise first strike". As defined, assured destruction meant that the U.S. would be able to retaliatorily destroy 20 to 25 per cent of the Soviet Union's population and 50 per cent of its industry. Later, the term mutual assured destruction meant each side's capacity to inflict sufficient damage on the other to constitute effective deterrence. In conjunction with assured destruction he stressed the importance of damage limitation, the use of strategic forces to limit the death of the population and damage to its industrial capacity, by attacking and diminishing the enemy's strategic offensive forces. NATO 2002 Summit The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), sometimes called North Atlantic Alliance, Atlantic Alliance or the Western Alliance, is an international organisation for defence collaboration established in 1949, in support of the North Atlantic Treaty signed in Washington, DC, on April 4, 1949. ...
Mutual assured destruction (MAD) is a doctrine of military strategy in which a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by one of two opposing sides would effectively result in the destruction of both the attacker and the defender. ...
To make this strategy credible, McNamara accelerated modernization and expansion of weapons and delivery systems. He accelerated the production and deployment of the solid-fuel Minuteman ICBMs and the Polaris SLBMs, and, by FY 1966, had removed from operational status all of the older liquid-fuel Atlas and Titan I missiles. At the end of his tenure, the U.S. had deployed 54 Titan II and 1,000 Minuteman land-based missiles, and 656 Polaris missiles in 41 nuclear submarines. The size of this long-range strategic missile force remained stable until the 1980s, although the number of warheads increased much when the multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) system was engaged in the late 1960s and the 1970s. The LGM-30 Minuteman is a United States nuclear missile, a land-based intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). ...
ICBM redirects here. ...
Polaris A-3 on launch pad in Cape Canaveral The Polaris missile was a submarine-launched, two-stage solid-fuel nuclear-armed ballistic missile (SLBM) built during the Cold War by Lockheed for the United States Navy. ...
French M45 SLBM and M51 SLBM Submarine-launched ballistic missiles or SLBMs are ballistic missiles delivering nuclear weapons that are launched from submarines. ...
For the article about the band, see M.I.R.V. The MIRVed U.S. Peacekeeper missile, with the re-entry vehicles highlighted in red. ...
Other steps McNamara took other steps to improve U.S. deterrence posture and military capabilities. He raised the proportion of Strategic Air Command (SAC) strategic bombers on 15-minute ground alert from 25 percent to 50 percent, thus lessening their vulnerability to missile attack. In December 1961 he established the Strike Command (STRICOM). Authorized to draw forces when needed from the Strategic Army Corps (STRAC), the Tactical Air Command, and the airlift units of the Military Air Transport Service and the military services, Strike Command had the mission "to respond swiftly and with whatever force necessary to threats against the peace in any part of the world, reinforcing unified commands or… carrying out separate contingency operations." McNamara also increased long-range airlift and sealift capabilities and funds for space research and development. After reviewing the separate and often uncoordinated service efforts in intelligence and communications, McNamara in 1961 consolidated these functions in the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Defense Communications Agency (the latter originally established by Secretary Gates in 1960), having both report to the secretary of defense through the JCS. The end effect was to remove the Intelligence function from the control of the military and to put it under the control of the Secretary of Defense. In the same year, he set up the Defense Supply Agency to work toward unified supply procurement, distribution, and inventory management under the control of the Secretary of Defense rather than the uniformed military. For the film of the same name, see Strategic Air Command (film) The Strategic Air Command (SAC) was the operational establishment of the United States Air Force in charge of Americas bomber-based and ballistic missile-based strategic nuclear arsenal from 1946 to 1992. ...
Strike Command is the successor organisation in the Royal Air Force to RAF Bomber Command, RAF Fighter Command and RAF Coastal Command of WWII fame. ...
The Strategic Army Corps (STRAC) is a U.S. Army command with a mission of high readiness. ...
The Tactical Air Command (TAC) was a command of the United States Air Force charged with battlefield-level (tactical) air combat, including light bombardment, close air support of ground troops, interdiction of enemy forces, and air transport of ground troops. ...
Military Air Transportation Service (MATS) was a command of the United States Air Force. ...
Strategic airlift is a military term for using cargo aircraft to transport matériel, weaponry, or personnel over long distances. ...
The USNS Bob Hope, a non-combatant vessel crewed by civilian mariners under the United States Navys Military Sealift Command, is used to preposition tanks, trucks and other wheeled vehicles and supplies needed to support an Army heavy brigade. ...
The Defense Intelligence Agency, or DIA, is a major producer and manager of military intelligence for the United States Department of Defense. ...
The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), formerly known as the Defense Communications Agency is a combat support agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for planning, developing, fielding, operating, and supporting command, control, communications, and information systems that serve the needs of the President, the Secretary of Defense...
McNamara's institution of systems analysis as a basis for making key decisions on force requirements, weapon systems, and other matters occasioned much debate. Two of its main practitioners during the McNamara era, Alain C. Enthoven and K. Wayne Smith, described the concept as follows: "First, the word 'systems' indicates that every decision should be considered in as broad a context as necessary… The word 'analysis' emphasizes the need to reduce a complex problem to its component parts for better understanding. Systems analysis takes a complex problem and sorts out the tangle of significant factors so that each can be studied by the method most appropriate to it." Enthoven and Smith said they used mainly civilians as systems analysts because they could apply independent points of view to force planning. McNamara's tendency to take military advice into account less than had previous secretaries and to override military opinions contributed to his unpopularity with service leaders. It was also generally thought that Systems Analysis, rather than being objective, was tailored by the civilians to support decisions that McNamara had already made. Systems analysis is the interdisciplinary branch of science, dealing with analysis of systems, often prior to their automation as computer systems, and the interactions within those systems. ...
Alain Enthoven was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense from 1961 to 1965. ...
The most notable example of systems analysis was the Planning, Programming and Budgeting System (PPBS) instituted by United States Department of Defense Comptroller Charles J. Hitch. McNamara directed Hitch to analyze defense requirements systematically and produce a long-term, program-oriented Defense budget. PPBS evolved to become the heart of the McNamara management program. According to Enthoven and Smith, the basic ideas of PPBS were: "the attempt to put defense program issues into a broader context and to search for explicit measures of national need and adequacy"; "consideration of military needs and costs together"; "explicit consideration of alternatives at the top decision level"; "the active use of an analytical staff at the top policymaking levels"; "a plan combining both forces and costs which projected into the future the foreseeable implications of current decisions"; and "open and explicit analysis, that is, each analysis should be made available to all interested parties, so that they can examine the calculations, data, and assumptions and retrace the steps leading to the conclusions." In practice, the data produced by the analysis was so large and so complex that while it was available to all interested parties, none of them could challenge the conclusions. Output budgeting wide ranging management technique introduced into the USA in the mid 1960s by Robert_S._McNamara´s collaborator Charles J. Hitch, not always with ready cooperation with the administrators and based on the industrial management techniques of program budgeting. ...
The United States Department of Defense (DOD or DoD) is the federal department charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government relating directly to national security and the military. ...
Look up comptroller in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
Charles J. Hitch (January 9 1910 - September 11, 1995) was Assistant Secretary of Defense from 1961 to 1965. ...
Among the management tools developed to implement PPBS were the Five Year Defense Plan (FYDP), the Draft Presidential Memorandum (DPM), the Readiness, Information and Control Tables, and the Development Concept Paper (DCP). The annual FYDP was a series of tables projecting forces for eight years and costs and manpower for five years in mission-oriented, rather than individual service, programs. By 1968, the FYDP covered ten military areas: strategic forces, general purpose forces, intelligence and communications, airlift and sealift, guard and reserve forces, research and development, central supply and maintenance, training and medical services, administration and related activities, and support of other nations.
The DPM, intended for the White House and usually prepared by the systems analysis office, was a method to study and analyze major defense issues. Sixteen DPMs appeared between 1961 and 1968 on such topics as strategic offensive and defensive forces, NATO strategy and force structure, military assistance, and tactical air forces. OSD sent the DPMs to the services and the JCS for comment; in making decisions, McNamara included in the DPM a statement of alternative approaches, force levels, and other factors. The DPM in its final form became a decision document. The DPM was hated by the JCS and uniformed military in that it cut their ability to communicate directly to the White House. The DPMs were also disliked because the systems analysis process was so heavyweight that it was impossible for any service to effectively challenge its conclusions. This article is about the military alliance. ...
The Development Concept Paper examined performance, schedule, cost estimates, and technical risks to provide a basis for determining whether to begin or continue a research and development program. But in practice, what it proved to be was a cost burden that became a barrier to entry for companies attempting to deal with the military. It aided the trend toward a few large non-competitive defense contractors serving the military. Rather than serving any useful purpose, the overhead necessary to generate information that was often in practice ignored resulted in increased costs throughout the system.
The Readiness, Information, and Control Tables provided data on specific projects, more detailed than in the FYDP, such as the tables for the Southeast Asia Deployment Plan, which recorded by month and quarter the schedule for deployment, consumption rates, and future projections of U.S. forces in Southeast Asia.
ABM Toward the end of his term McNamara also opposed an anti-ballistic missile (ABM) system proposed for installation in the United States, arguing that it would be too expensive (at least $40 billion) and ultimately ineffective, because the Soviets would increase their offensive capability to offset the defensive advantage of the United States. Under pressure to proceed with the ABM program after it became clear that the Soviets had begun a similar project, McNamara finally agreed to a "thin" system, but he never believed it wise for the United States to move in that direction. An anti-ballistic missile (ABM) is a missile designed to counter ballistic missiles. ...
He always believed that the best defense strategy for the US was a parity of mutually assured destruction with the Soviet Union. An ABM system would be an ineffective weapon as compared to an increase in deployed nuclear missile capacity. Mutually assured destruction (MAD) is the doctrine of military strategy in which a full scale use of nuclear weapons by one of two opposing sides would result in the destruction of both the attacker and the defender. ...
Cost reductions McNamara's staff stressed systems analysis as an aid in decision making on weapon development and many other budget issues. The secretary believed that the United States could afford any amount needed for national security, but that "this ability does not excuse us from applying strict standards of effectiveness and efficiency to the way we spend our defense dollars…. You have to make a judgment on how much is enough." Acting on these principles, McNamara instituted a much-publicized cost reduction program, which, he reported, saved $14 billion in the five-year period beginning in 1961. Although he had to withstand a storm of criticism from senators and representatives from affected congressional districts, he closed many military bases and installations that he judged unnecessary to national security. He was equally determined about other cost-saving measures. But in the end, most of the cost savings were illusionary. Every base he closed resulted in a new construction project elsewhere to expand another base, relocation of forces projects and other related spending. The actual cost savings through consolidation of installations was often minimal or in some cases negative. Image File history File links Question_book-3. ...
Due to the nuclear arms race, the Vietnam War buildup and other projects, total obligational authority increased greatly during the McNamara years. Fiscal year TOA increased from $48.4 billion in 1962 to $49.5 billion in 1965 (before the major Vietnam increases) to $74.9 billion in 1968, McNamara's last year in office. Not until FY 1984 did DoD's total obligational authority surpass that of FY 1968 in constant dollars. The term Constant dollars refers to a metric for valuing the price of something over time, without that metric changing due to inflation or deflation. ...
Program consolidation One major hallmark of McNamara's cost reductions was the consolidation of programs from different services, most visibly in fighter acquisition, believing that the redundancy created waste and unnecessary spending. McNamara directed the Air Force to adopt the Navy's F-4 Phantom and A-7 fighters, a consolidation that was quite successful. Conversely, his actions in mandating a premature across-the-board adoption of the untested M16 rifle proved catastrophic when the weapons began to fail in combat. McNamara tried to extend his success by merging development programs as well, resulting in the TFX dual service F-111 project. It was to combine Air Force requirements for an air superiority fighter and tactical bomber, His experience in the corporate world led him to believe that adopting a single type for different missions and service would save money. He insisted on the General Dynamics entry over the DOD's preference for Boeing because of commonality issues. Though heralded as a fighter that could do everything — fast supersonic dash, slow carrier and short airfield landings, tactical strike, and even close air support, in the end it involved too many compromises to succeed at any of them. The Navy version was drastically overweight and difficult to land, and eventually killed after a Grumman study showed it was incapable of matching the abilities of the newly revealed Mig-23 and Mig-25. The F-111 would eventually find its niche as a tactical bomber and electronic warfare aircraft with the Air Force. The F-4 Phantom II (simply F-4 Phantom after 1990) is a two-place (tandem), supersonic, long-range, all-weather fighter-bomber built by McDonnell Douglas Corporation. ...
The Ling-Temco-Vought A-7 Corsair II is a carrier-based subsonic light attack aircraft design that was introduced to replace the A-4 Skyhawk in US Naval service and based on the successful supersonic F-8 Crusader aircraft produced by Chance Vought. ...
M16 (more formally United States Rifle, Caliber 5. ...
The General Dynamics F-111 is a medium-range strategic bomber, reconnaissance, and tactical strike aircraft designed in the 1960s. ...
Sukhoi-30 MKI is one of the most advanced air superiority fighters. ...
The Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, later Grumman Aerospace Corporation, was a leading producer of military and civilian aircraft of the 20th century. ...
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 (Flogger). ...
MiG 25 Foxbat The MiG-25 (NATO reporting name Foxbat) is a high-speed interceptor and reconnaissance aircraft produced by the Soviet Unions Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau. ...
However, many analysts believe that even though the TFX project itself was a failure, McNamara was ahead of his time as the trend in fighter design has continued toward consolidation — the F-16 and F/A-18 were developed as multi-role fighters, and most modern designs combine many of the roles the TFX would have had. In many ways, the JSF is seen as a rebirth of the TFX project, in that it purports to satisfy the needs of three American Air arms (as well as several foreign customers), fulfilling the roles of strike fighter, carrier-launched fighter, VSTOL, and CAS (and drawing many criticisms similar to those leveled against the TFX). The F-16 Fighting Falcon is a modern multi-role jet fighter aircraft built in the United States and used by dozens of countries all over the world. ...
The F/A-18 Hornet is an all-weather fighter and attack aircraft. ...
The F-35 Lightning II is a single-seat, single-engine, stealth-capable military strike fighter, a multi-role aircraft that can perform close air support, tactical bombing, and air-to-air combat. ...
Vietnam War The Vietnam conflict came to claim most of McNamara's time and energy. The Truman and Eisenhower administrations had committed the United States to support the French and native anti-Communist forces in Vietnam in resisting efforts by the Communists in the North to control the country, though neither administration established actual combat forces in the conflict. The U.S. role, initially limited to financial support, military advice and covert intelligence gathering, expanded after 1954 when the French withdrew. During the Kennedy administration, the U.S. military advisory group in South Vietnam steadily increased, with McNamara's concurrence, from just a few hundred to about 17,000. U.S. involvement escalated after the Gulf of Tonkin Incident in August 1964 when North Vietnamese naval vessels were falsely reported as firing on two U.S. destroyers. McNamara was instrumental in selling this fictitious event to Congress and the public as a pretext for escalation. For other persons named Harry Truman, see Harry Truman (disambiguation). ...
Dwight David Eisenhower, born David Dwight Eisenhower (October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969), nicknamed Ike, was a five-star General in the United States Army and U.S. politician, who served as the thirty-fourth President of the United States (1953–1961). ...
Chart showing the U.S. Navys interpretation of the events of the first part of the Gulf of Tonkin incident The Gulf of Tonkin Incident was an alleged pair of attacks by naval forces of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (commonly referred to as North Vietnam) against two American...
President Johnson ordered "retaliatory" air strikes on North Vietnamese naval bases and Congress approved almost unanimously the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, authorizing the president "to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the U.S. and to prevent further aggression."
As the war expanded in Southeast Asia in 1964, the Johnson Administration was increasingly focused on the November presidential election, seeking to minimize America's growing and often covert involvement in Vietnam. Consequently, McNamara frequently failed to pass along the Joint Chiefs' comments or objections to administration policy, or misrepresented those views to the president. Following the retirement of Admiral George W. Anderson, Army General George Decker, and Air Force chief Curtis LeMay, the JCS became increasingly compliant to Johnson and McNamara's wishes. (H.R. McMaster, Dereliction of Duty, Harper Perennial, 1997.) George Whelan Anderson, Jr. ...
George H. Decker (1902-1980) was Chief of Staff of the United States Army from 1960 to 1962. ...
Curtis Emerson LeMay (November 15, 1906–October 3, 1990) was a general in the United States Air Force and the vice presidential running mate of independent candidate George C. Wallace in 1968. ...
For other uses, see Dereliction of duty (disambiguation). ...
In 1965, in response to stepped up military activity by the nationalist Viet Cong in South Vietnam and their North Vietnamese allies, the United States began bombing North Vietnam, deployed large military forces, and entered into combat in South Vietnam. McNamara's plan, supported by requests from top U.S. military commanders in Vietnam led to the commitment of 485,000 troops by the end of 1967 and almost 535,000 by 30 June 1968. The casualty lists mounted as the number of troops and the intensity of fighting escalated. McNamara put in place a statistical strategy for victory in Vietnam. He concluded that there were a limited number of Viet Cong fighters in Vietnam and that a war of attrition would destroy them. He applied metrics (body counts) to determine how close to success his plan was. Eugène Delacroixs Liberty Leading the People, symbolizing French nationalism during the July Revolution 1830. ...
A Viet Cong soldier, heavily guarded, awaits interrogation following capture in the attacks on Saigon during the festive Tet holiday period of 1968. ...
is the 181st day of the year (182nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Although he was a prime architect of the Vietnam War and repeatedly overruled the JCS on strategic matters, McNamara gradually became skeptical about whether the war could be won by deploying more troops to South Vietnam and intensifying the bombing of North Vietnam, a claim he would publish in a book years later and he also stated later that his support of the Vietnam war was done out of loyalty to administration policy. He traveled to Vietnam many times to study the situation firsthand and became increasingly reluctant to approve the large force increments requested by the military commanders.
During President John F. Kennedy's term, while McNamara was Secretary of Defense, America's troops in Vietnam increased from 500 to 16,000.
Some argue that McNamara knew about the potential deadly effects of Dow Chemical’s Agent Orange even as it was being used in Vietnam, and long before veterans came home to die or waste away from the herbicide's after effects. McNamara denies that he was aware of these dangers, and does not recall whether he was involved in the decision to use Agent Orange. The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW) is a multinational corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, USA. In terms of market capitalization, it is the second-largest chemical company in the world, smaller than only DuPont. ...
For other uses, see Agent Orange (disambiguation). ...
McNamara has said that the Domino Theory was the main reason for entering the Vietnam War. In the same interview he states, "Kennedy hadn't said before he died whether, faced with the loss of Vietnam, he would [completely] withdraw; but I believe today that had he faced that choice, he would have withdrawn." [1] The domino theory was a mid-20th century foreign policy theory, promoted by the government of the United States, that speculated that if one land in a region came under the influence of communism, then the surrounding countries would follow in a domino effect. ...
Combatants Republic of Vietnam United States Republic of Korea Thailand Australia New Zealand The Philippines National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam Democratic Republic of Vietnam People’s Republic of China Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea Strength US 1,000,000 South Korea 300,000 Australia 48,000...
Social Equity To commemorate President Harry S Truman'a signing an order to end segregation in the military on July 26, 1948, McNamara issued Directive 5120.36 on July 26, 1963. This directive, Equal Opportunity in the Armed Forces, dealt directly with the issue of racial and gender discrimination in areas surrounding military communities. The directive declared, “Every military commander has the responsibility to oppose discriminatory practices affecting his men and their dependents and to foster equal opportunity for them, not only in areas under his immediate control, but also in nearby communities where they may live or gather in off-duty hours.” (para. II.C.)[4] Under the directive commanding officers were obligated to use the economic power of the military to influence local businesses in their treatment of minorities and women. With the approval of the Secretary of Defense, the commanding officer could declare areas off-limits to military personnel for discriminatory practices.[5] The Chicago Defender announces Executive Order 9981. ...
Department of Defense Directive 5120. ...
Departure from SoD As McNamara grew more and more controversial after 1966 and his differences with the President and the Joint Chiefs of Staff over Vietnam strategy became the subject of public speculation, frequent rumors surfaced that he would leave office. In early November 1967, McNamara's recommendation to freeze troop levels, stop bombing North Vietnam and for the US to hand over ground fighting to South Vietnam was rejected outright by President Lyndon B. Johnson. McNamara's recommendations amounted to his saying that the strategy of the United States in Vietnam which had been pursued to date had failed. Largely as a result, on November 29 of that year, McNamara announced his pending resignation and that he would become President of the World Bank. Other factors were the increasing intensity of the anti-war movement in the United States, the approaching presidential campaign, in which Johnson was expected to seek re-election and McNamara's support over opposition by the Joint Chiefs of Staff of construction along the 17th parallel separating South and North Vietnam of a line of fortifications running from the coast of Vietnam into Laos. The President's announcement of McNamara's move to the World Bank stressed his stated interest in the job and that he deserved a change after seven years as Secretary of Defense, much longer than any of his predecessors (and longer than any of his successors, to date). Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (4893x3280, 1798 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Dean Rusk Robert McNamara Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner...
Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (4893x3280, 1798 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Dean Rusk Robert McNamara Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner...
David Dean Rusk (February 9, 1909 – December 20, 1994) was the United States Secretary of State from 1961 to 1969 under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. ...
LBJ redirects here. ...
Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States of America symbol The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is a group comprising the Chiefs of service of each major branch of the armed services in the United States armed forces. ...
Anthem Tiến Quân Ca (Army March) Location of North Vietnam Capital Hanoi Language(s) Vietnamese Government Socialist republic First president Ho Chi Minh Historical era Cold War - Independence proclaimed (from Japan) September 2, 1945 - Recognized 1954 - Disestablished July 2, 1976 Area 157,880 km² Population - est. ...
Anthem Thanh niên Hà nh Khúc (Call to the Citizens) Capital Saigon Language(s) Vietnamese Government Republic Last President¹ Duong Van Minh Last Prime minister Vu Van Mau Historical era Cold War - Regime change June 14, 1955 - Dissolution April 30, 1975 Area - 1973 173,809 km² 67,108...
LBJ redirects here. ...
is the 333rd day of the year (334th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
The World Bank logo The World Bank (the Bank) is a part of the World Bank Group (WBG), is a bank that makes loans to developing countries for development programs with the stated goal of reducing poverty. ...
Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States of America symbol The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is a group comprising the Chiefs of service of each major branch of the armed services in the United States armed forces. ...
Other sources give a different view of McNamara's departure from office. For example, Stanley Karnow in his book "Vietnam: A History" strongly suggests that McNamara was asked to leave by the President. McNamara himself has expressed lack of certainty about the question.[6] Stanley Karnow is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author who covered Asia from 1959 as chief correspondent for Time and Life. ...
McNamara left office on 29 February 1968; for his efforts, the President awarded him both the Medal of Freedom and the Distinguished Service Medal. February 29 is a day added into a leap year of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award in the United States. ...
The Defense Distinguished Service Medal is a United States military award which is presented for exceptionally distinguished performance of duty contributing to national security or defense of the United States. ...
Shortly after McNamara departed the Pentagon, he published "The Essence of Security," discussing various aspects of his tenure and position on basic national security issues. He did not speak out again on defense issues or Vietnam until after he left the World Bank. The World Bank logo The World Bank (the Bank) is a part of the World Bank Group (WBG), is a bank that makes loans to developing countries for development programs with the stated goal of reducing poverty. ...
World Bank McNamara served as head of the World Bank from April 1968 to June 1981, when he turned 65.[7] In his thirteen years at the Bank, he introduced key changes. He negotiated, with the conflicting countries represented on the Board, a spectacular growth in funds to channel credits for development, in the form of health, food, and education projects. He also instituted new methods of evaluating the effectiveness of funded projects. One notable project started during McNamara's tenure was the effort to prevent river blindness.[7] The World Bank logo The World Bank (the Bank) is a part of the World Bank Group (WBG), is a bank that makes loans to developing countries for development programs with the stated goal of reducing poverty. ...
Onchocerciasis or river blindness is the worlds second leading infectious cause of blindness. ...
The World Bank currently has a scholarship program under his name.[8] The World Bank Scholarship programme began in 1982. ...
Post-World Bank activities In 1982 McNamara joined several other former national security officials in urging that the United States pledge not to use nuclear weapons first in Europe in the event of hostilities; subsequently he proposed the elimination of nuclear weapons as an element of NATO's defense posture. His memoir, In Retrospect, published in 1995, presented an account and analysis of the Vietnam War from his point of view. Reviews were very mixed. The book was viewed as McNamara's attempt to apologize for his role in the war, but it also has been seen as shifting blame to other people and as an attempt to transform his image from an architect of the war into a virtual opponent. For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ...
Combatants Republic of Vietnam United States Republic of Korea Thailand Australia New Zealand The Philippines National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam Democratic Republic of Vietnam People’s Republic of China Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea Strength US 1,000,000 South Korea 300,000 Australia 48,000...
McNamara has maintained his involvement in politics during recent years, delivering statements critical of the Bush administration's 2003 invasion of Iraq. [1] On January 5, 2006, McNamara and most living former Secretaries of Defense and Secretaries of State met briefly at the White House with President Bush, to discuss the War in Iraq. George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is the forty-third and current President of the United States of America, originally inaugurated on January 20, 2001. ...
This article is about the 2003 invasion of Iraq. ...
is the 5th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
In several countries, Secretary of State is a senior government position. ...
Promise and Power In 1993, the respected Washington journalist Deborah Shapley published a 615-page biography of Robert McNamara, called Promise and Power: the Life and Times of Robert McNamara. The last pages of her book made clear that while Ms. Shapley deeply admired certain aspects of McNamara the man, and the public servant, she had seen first-hand his need to manipulate the truth, as well as to tell it.
Shapley concluded her book with these words: "For better and worse McNamara shaped much in today's world -- and imprisoned himself. A little-known nineteenth century writer, P.W. Bornum, offers a summation: `We make our decisions. And then our decisions turn around and make us.'"
The Fog of War The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara is a 2003 Errol Morris documentary consisting mostly of interviews with Robert McNamara and archival footage. It received an Academy Award for Documentary Feature. The particular structure of this personal account is accomplished with the characteristics of an intimate dialogue. As McNamara explains, it is a process of examining the experiences of his long and controversial period as the United States Secretary of Defense, as well as other periods of his personal and public life. This article is about the documentary. ...
Errol Morris Errol Morris (born February 5, 1948) is an American Academy Award winning documentary film director. ...
Documentary film is a broad category of visual expression that is based on the attempt, in one fashion or another, to document reality. ...
The Academy Award for Documentary Feature is one of the most prestigious awards for documentary films. ...
The United States Secretary of Defense (SECDEF) is the head of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), concerned with the armed services and military matters. ...
Personal information McNamara married Margaret Craig, his teenage sweetheart, in 1940. The couple had two daughters and a son. Margaret McNamara, a former teacher, used her position as a Cabinet spouse to launch a reading program for young children, Reading Is Fundamental, which became the largest literacy program in the country. She died of cancer in 1981. Margaret McNamara, attended University of California at Berkeley where she was a member of the Alpha Phi sorority. ...
In 1966, former teacher and Alpha Phi alumna Margaret McNamara brought a bag of used books to four boys in Washington, D.C., whom she tutored in reading. ...
When working at Ford Motor Company, McNamara resided in Ann Arbor rather than the usual auto executive domains of Grosse Pointe, Birmingham, Michigan, and Bloomfield Hills. He and his wife sought to remain connected with a university town after their hopes of returning to Harvard after the war were put on hold. “Ford†redirects here. ...
Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. ...
The Grosse Pointe Yacht Club St. ...
Birmingham is a city in Oakland County of the U.S. state of Michigan. ...
Bloomfield Hills is a city located in Oakland County, Michigan. ...
On September 29, 1972, a passenger on the ferry to Martha's Vineyard recognized McNamara on board and attempted to throw him into the ocean. McNamara declined to press charges. The man remained anonymous, but
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