Robert McNamara - Dead at age 93

moe.ron · #1 07-06-2009, 09:50 PM

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp...Fb56NzuQ7zR-gg

Quote:

"We made our decisions in light of those values. Yet we were wrong, terribly wrong. We owe it to future generations to explain why."

pshsx1 · #2 07-06-2009, 11:29 PM

Hm. I guess he lived a pretty full life. Very odd middle name haha.

RIP

KSigkid · #3 07-07-2009, 09:18 AM

If you have the chance, you should definitely watch "Fog of War." Very interesting film, if for no other reason than to listen to McNamara talk about his government/military career.

ThetaDancer · #4 07-07-2009, 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KSigkid

If you have the chance, you should definitely watch "Fog of War." Very interesting film, if for no other reason than to listen to McNamara talk about his government/military career.

I definitely plan on checking that out. I would also recommend his book "In Retrospect"...not only is it interesting for people who like history, but it's interesting to read about such a powerful man trying to come to terms with all of his mistakes.

Munchkin03 · #5 07-07-2009, 11:26 AM

I should put "Fog of War" on my Netflix queue; I imagine, however, that there's a "Very Long Wait" for it right now.

I had the privilege of hearing McNamara speak to my Vietnam History class back in college. He limited what he was going to talk about. Granted, this was fall of 2000, so not so recently.

33girl · #6 07-07-2009, 08:38 PM

I second the Fog of War recommendation. It's one of my favorites.

One of the biggest parts of growing up is realizing that nothing or no one is ever completely good or evil, no situation is completely black and white...there are many many shades of gray. This film hits that home like few other.

sdeason1 · #7 07-09-2009, 01:56 PM

But how bad was the viet nam war screwed up under his watch? he was not a hero at all.

Kevin · #8 07-09-2009, 02:14 PM

Johnson probably deserves more blame than the good General.

KSigkid · #9 07-09-2009, 04:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sdeason1

But how bad was the viet nam war screwed up under his watch? he was not a hero at all.

Thanks Tom for another one of your insightful observations.

dekeguy · #10 07-09-2009, 04:41 PM

Best deep cover agent the KGB ever had. There was an editorial cartoon a few years back that had Donald Rumsfeld looking into a mirror and seeing RSM looking back. Enough to make one's blood run cold.

VandalSquirrel · #11 07-09-2009, 06:24 PM

I find it odd there was no mention of his first wife in the article about him. He was married to her for much longer than his second wife, and she was the mother of his children. She was pretty amazing in her own right, she founded "RIF" Reading is Fundamental. Margaret McNamara is an Alpha Phi, and Robert, a Fiji.

It was discussed in a course I had that his wife's illness affected him greatly, to the point he shouldn't have been at his job(s) because he wasn't really there and making good decisions.

33girl · #12 07-09-2009, 08:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dekeguy

Best deep cover agent the KGB ever had.

SRSLY? I never heard that one.

Quote:

Originally Posted by VandalSquirrel

I find it odd there was no mention of his first wife in the article about him.

Something tells me that the writer of that article didn't look too deeply into the story in general.

Tom, you dingdong, I didn't say he was a hero, I was just pointing out that I don't think there's any such thing in humans as 100% good or 100% evil.

VandalSquirrel · #13 07-09-2009, 09:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 33girl

SRSLY? I never heard that one.

Something tells me that the writer of that article didn't look too deeply into the story in general.

Tom, you dingdong, I didn't say he was a hero, I was just pointing out that I don't think there's any such thing in humans as 100% good or 100% evil.

I didn't even know he got remarried, I always knew about Margaret, which is why I was

she wasn't mentioned in the article at all, especially since they mentioned "children from a previous marriage" I can understand not mentioning a divorce, but he was a widower.

In Path to War Alec Baldwin was entertaining playing him. Not to mention all the other people in it, Felicity Huffman, Tom Skerrit, Gary Sinise, Donald Sutherland. It was made for tv, but it had some LOLs in it, particularly LBJ (played by Dumbledore) driving like a bat out of hell freaking out Lady Bird (Felicity Huffman)..

dekeguy · #14 07-10-2009, 11:28 AM

[QUOTE=33girl;1824671]SRSLY? I never heard that one.

============================

Even today, all these years later, the general consensus in the Army is that McNamara did more damage to the US Forces than anyone could possibly have done through simple stupidity. While the "Best deep cover KGB agent" comment is slightly tounge-in-cheek, it is only slightly so. Remember, this is the fellow who gave Ford the "Edsel". He insisted that "mutually assured destruction (MAD) was the Grand strategy for our National Defense while ignoring and pointedly rejecting the possibility that conventional arms might be required. By concentrating only on weapons of mass destruction and allowing our conventional capabilities to wither and atrophy he invited confrontation with third world nasties who understood that a .22 rifle can kill you just as dead as a thermo nuclear device. The Services are still repairing the damage done by this very dishonorable person. Also, let us not forget just how "well" he did as head of the World Bank. The deeper one looks into this man's record the more troubling the result.