Robert McNamara's Pentagon

[erpowers]

What do DUers think of the changes made at the Pentagon by Robert McNamara? He gave civilians more control over the Pentagon and decision making. In addition, I think Robert McNamara deserves some credit for the revealing of the fact that the Soviet and Warsaw Pact countries were not actually superior to American and NATO forces. McNamara brought in the Systems Analysis team which began to ask questions about the supposed Soviet/Warsaw Pact superiority and it was eventually discovered that the American/NATO countries actually had more and better trained forces than the Soviet/Warsaw Pact countries. In addition, although it seems that McNamara takes a good bit of the blame for Vietnam if it had been up to McNamara America might have withdrawn earlier from the war. It seems that McNamara was one of the supporters of the idea that America pull out after the 1964 election. So, what do others think?

[taterguy]

1. Never put an auto exec in charge of anything

And claiming that if it had been up to McNamara we would have withdrawn from Vietnam is just silly.

[erpowers]

3. Johnson Overruled McNamara

There are audio tapes that have Johnson criticizing McNamara by saying "I was against pulling out, but you and John wanted to withdraw. I just sat back and kept quiet". It seems that it was more Johnson's decision to put more troops in Vietnam and not remove the troops.

Maybe you have seen "Fog of War", but the conversation between McNamara and Johnson is included in "Fog of War".

[HereSince1628]

2. McNamara was a liar

He lied to the nation about the mission, he lied to the nation about the projected costs, he lied to the nation about the progress of the war. He and Generals Taylor and Westmoreland were horsemen of an apocalypse.

If he was an effective administrator, he was also a the bane of an entire generation.