RIP Robert McNamara
July 7th, 2009
From Time Magazine
He used data, evidence and statistics to drive change and make improvements. He admitted his mistakes and wrote and learned lessons in the hopes to prevent those mistakes from ever happening again.
However, a he was a man whose mistakes (with President Kennedy and Johnson) cost over a million lives.
Learning from mistakes and open criticism in a free society how societies grow for the betterment of all.
The NewsHour has two really great segments. First and interview with Robert McNamara and then a debate with John McCain, George McGovern and others about McNamara
July 15th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
Robert McNamara was a genius when it came to buisiness management and effeciency, but this does not translate to the kind of leadership and decisiveness that fighting a war requires. When Kennedy first asked McNamara to come on board as Secretary of Defense, McNamara said he was not qualified for the job, but Kennedy insisted. (and it’s tough to say no to Jack Kennedy, especially when he’s telling you you’re the man for one of his most important cabinet positions). If there was one thing that Robert McNamara was 100% right about this was it. Kennedy really should have listened to him when he said he wasn’t the man for the job.
July 18th, 2009 at 7:51 am
Well, IMO, McNamara was qualified with Kennedy because the two got alone and communicated well together.
The problem was that McNamara and Johnson didn’t work well together. If McNamara had his way with Johnson they would have continued the Kennedy plan to withdraw.
To that extent, one could say McNarama didn’t do his job well. But if ultimatly you can’t convince your boss of the truth, the blame lies on boss for supporting the wrong path.
I think McNarama gets too much blame for Vietnam, mostly because McNamara was the one doing all the Press interviews about it.