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