Robert S. McNamara: The Fog of War, a grandiose reflection

The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara

 

 

 

The Fog of War, is a documentary directed by Errol Morris about Robert Strange McNamara, the statistical genius from Harvard Business School who once served as the youngest professor in its history, additionally, Robert McNamara became the first non-Ford family member to serve as its Chief Executive Officer. McNamara, who rose to fame in 1961 when he was appointed by then President John F. Kennedy to serve as Secretary of Defense. In the midst of the cold war period in U.S. history, McNamara would run the Pentagon with the same statistical fervor that he applied at Ford Motor Corporation. The documentary "The Fog of War," gave insight into some of the logic that was used during the Cuban Missile Crisis and Vietnam War. The documentary which shows McNamara in a reflective state is captivating to say the least but were the reflections portrayed accurate? According to tapes released by President John F. Kennedy's Library in Boston the answer is "no."

McNamara recalls the days of the Cuban Missile Crisis passionately to say the least. He speaks of President Kennedy's attempt to keep the United States from engaging in an unnecessary war with the Soviets. McNamara states, "Kennedy was trying to keep us out of war...I was trying to help him keep us out of war," however, this statement is inaccurate to say the least. It is true according to the tapes released by the Kennedy Library that President Kennedy desired to avoid the conflict but it is documented that on October 18, 1962, McNamara became a firm advocate of an air raid on Cuba followed by a full scale invasion. In the tapes, Mr. McNamara can be heard saying, "we consider nothing short of a full invasion as practicable military action and this only on the assumption that we're operating against a force that does not possess operational nuclear weapons." In other words, Mr. McNamara agreed with a full invasion of Cuba, thus, possibly causing a nuclear war with the Soviet Union.

It is often said that the victors often re-write history from their perspective, perhaps this is one of those times in the mind of a man who stopped short of incriminating himself of war crimes in the Vietnam conflict in the documentary. The lesson we should learn: always investigate the evidence, in this case, the J.F.K Library ExComm tapes, before buying into the reflective stories of those that directly participated in one of the worst wars in U.S. history.

Citations:

 The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara

 Sheldon M. Stern. Averting "The Final Failure": John F. Kennedy and the Secret Cuban Missile Crisis Meetings (2003).