He assumed presidency of the Ford Motor Company in 1960 before resigning and becoming the secretary of defense under JFK. He redesigned the budget procedures of the Pentagon by cutting costs on what he thought were outdated weapons. He also was a major player in changing Eisenhower's increasingly unpopular policy of "massive retaliation" to a more versatile "flexible response." The basis of the strategy, rather than clapping back after an attack with greater force, called for mutual deterrence at many different levels, allowing the capability to respond to any conflict, not just that of nuclear weapons. Mutual deterrence, or mutually assured destruction (MAD), is an idea where complete use of nuclear weapons by two opponents would result in the utter destruction of both sides. The security that comes with this is known as the theory of deterrence, which states that threatening an enemy with nuclear weapons, or any powerful weapons at all, would prevent the enemy from using identical weapons in an attempt to prevent destruction. Although "flexible response" initially created during the Cold War in response to the threat of nuclear attack, it still remains a fundamental aspect of American military thinking.
In his later years, he advocated for deeper military involvement in Vietnam and was very optimistic about the outcome of the Vietnam War. Additionally, after leaving the Pentagon, he assumed the presidency of the World Bank. He fought issues of world hunger and East-West relations, along with publishing numerous policy papers and writing his own book, Blundering into Disaster: Surviving the First Century in a Nuclear Age, and a memoir, In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam. McNamara died on July 6, 2009. He was 93.
Sources:
https://www.biography.com/political-figure/robert-s-mcnamara
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Robert-S-McNamara
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Flexible-Response
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/Robert_McNamara_official_portrait.jpg
As you briefly mentioned in your post, McNamara was greatly involved in the escalation of the Vietnam war. During the Johnson administration, McNamara worked closely with President Johnson, and Johnson often agreed with McNamara’s assessments on where to send troops. Johnson approved some of McNamara’s operations such as Operation Rolling Thunder, which allowed for heavy and sustained bombings on North Vietnam in hopes of reducing their ability to produce and transport supplies to aid the Viet Cong. By the time McNamara resigned from his position as the Secretary of Defense, his policies had severely escalated the Vietnam War and contributed to the deaths of thousands of US troops. In his memoir, McNamara stated that he "could and should have withdrawn from South Vietnam" in late 1963, and that he should have known that “military force -- especially when wielded by an outside power -- cannot bring order in a country that cannot govern itself.”
ReplyDeletehttps://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/operation-rolling-thunder
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/why-robert-mcnamara-came-regret-war-he-escalated-180961231/
https://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/09/world/mcnamara-recalls-and-regrets-vietnam.html
McNamara is considered responsible for escalating the Vietnam War, but at one point he also urged Johnson to negotiate peace. In 1967 he sent a long paper containing his argument that there were too many casualties and that it could possibly become a wider conflict. Johnson felt that they couldn't admit that their policy on Vietnam had been wrong and even thought McNamara was secretly aligned with Robert Kennedy, who was intending to run against Johnson in the next presidential election. Although it is said that McNamara resigned, some argue that he was pushed out by Johnson.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/07/us/07mcnamara.html
Even though McNamara escalated the conflict in Vietnam resulting in thousands of American casualties, he did play a part in preventing an all out nuclear war during the Eisenhower era. He has definitely played a huge role in the way we deal with nuclear weapons these days.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/why-robert-mcnamara-came-regret-war-he-escalated-180961231/