Robert Strange McNamara (1916- )
I. Introduction
- •a key figure in determining U.S. military strategy in the Vietnam war
- •what that strategy illustrates about McNamara and about U.S. values,
and why it didn't work
II. McNamara's career
- •Youth
- •World War II (1941-1946)
- •Ford Motor Company (1946-1960)
- •Secretary of Defense (1961-1967)
- •"the best and the brightest"
- •"flexible response" military policy
- •Vietnam War (1945-1961)
- •McNamara's Vietnam strategy
- •growing doubts (1966-1967)
- •resignation (1967)
- •International Bank for Reconstruction and Development [World
Bank] (1968-1982)
III. Conclusion
- •Vietnam the logical consequence of containment
- •Vietnam was at least as much a political conflict as a military one
- •McNamara's emphasis on technology represents both a great
strength of the modern U.S. and a possible weakness