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Former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara Dies
foxnews.com ^ | 07/06/09 | Staff

Posted on 07/06/2009 6:21:18 AM PDT by DFG

Former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara has died.

McNamara, 93, died at home in his sleep Monday morning, his wife Diana told The Associated Press. She said he had been in failing health for some time.

Known as a policymaker with a fixation for statistical analysis, McNamara was president of the Ford Motor Co. when President John F. Kennedy asked him to head the Pentagon in 1961.

McNamara worked for seven years as the defense secretary in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, longer than any other person in that post. He headed the war department during the build-up of forces in Vietnam.

He is considered the architect of the concept of "mutual assured destruction," a key feature of the nuclear arms race during the Cold War.

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; News/Current Events; US: Michigan
KEYWORDS: dod; jfk; lbj; mcnamara; michigan; secdef; whizkids
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To: Chode
F-111 Bob McNamara...

Actually, the Vark turned out to be a really good airplane.

81 posted on 07/06/2009 7:53:37 AM PDT by saminfl ( FUBO)
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To: se_ohio_young_conservative

I doubt very much that Lyndon Johnson loved this country. Johnson loved himself, money and power. He was a very poor man that got into politics and became a very, very rich man. Just like in Arkansas with the Clintons many people that opposed him ended up dead. Between him using Social Security to pay for his “great society” and using and killing young Americans to fight a war he didn’t have the guts to win because of political repercussions we are lucky we survived long enough for Carter and Obama to put the final nails in our coffin.


82 posted on 07/06/2009 7:54:43 AM PDT by Barb4Bush (God help us all!)
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To: DFG

The worst Secdef in my lifetime.
___________________________

Vietnam vets agree.


83 posted on 07/06/2009 7:55:09 AM PDT by unkus
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To: DFG

Strange.


84 posted on 07/06/2009 7:57:26 AM PDT by Mojave (Don't blame me. I voted for McClintock.)
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To: se_ohio_young_conservative
You can pray for him all you want ... but there are friends of mine that were obliterated because of his action and stupidity.

He has a lot of angry hands on him now ...

85 posted on 07/06/2009 7:59:27 AM PDT by Robe (Rome did not create a great empire by talking, they did it by killing all those who opposed them)
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To: oh8eleven
Yup ~ McNamara and the firebombing of Japanese cities.

If we'd taken half the bucks that went down that rathole and thrown it into the nuclear weapons program, the war in Europe and East Asia would have been over much faster ~ and at far less cost in lives and materiele to the United States.

Almost forgot his part in that one ~

86 posted on 07/06/2009 8:03:01 AM PDT by muawiyah
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To: meandog

My choice for worst SoD is Louis Johnson (Truman appointee).


87 posted on 07/06/2009 8:03:22 AM PDT by rahbert ("...but Rush....but Rush...")
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To: se_ohio_young_conservative

I do think a lot needs to be said about McNamara- many don’t know that he was responsible for the deaths of 500 soldiers a week during the height of the Vietnam War- and though he was the architect of the management of the war he later turned his back on the soldiers and condemned the war in support of anti-war protestors. Some piece of work this man and it surely isn’t in our children’s history books and if noone speaks out then his treachery will be lost to those who weren’t alive at the time.

Do I think Johnson enjoyed the Vietnam War? I hope he did, he started it, made a big deal of the troop build-up, made sure his wife and friends would profit from it, and micro-managed it to the point it was nearly impossible for our troops to do what they needed to do in order to win.

So many lies have been told about the Vietnam War- now let those who know speak the truth for a change.


88 posted on 07/06/2009 8:04:49 AM PDT by Tammy8 (Please Support & pray for our Troops; they serve us every day. Veterans are heroes not terrorists!)
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To: meandog

Cameron and Rumsfeld didn’t even start to be bad enough to be included with McNamara- he is in a class all by himself.


89 posted on 07/06/2009 8:06:42 AM PDT by Tammy8 (Please Support & pray for our Troops; they serve us every day. Veterans are heroes not terrorists!)
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To: meandog

I would make some room for Les Aspin on that list, maybe not top 3, but definitely top 5.


90 posted on 07/06/2009 8:06:43 AM PDT by Hat-Trick (Do you trust a government that cannot trust you with guns?)
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To: Hawthorn

If someone is a murderer’s accomplice doesn’t that make him a murderer, too?


91 posted on 07/06/2009 8:06:58 AM PDT by Barb4Bush (God help us all!)
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To: oh8eleven; LS

Please explain. How did McNamara help win WWII?


92 posted on 07/06/2009 8:08:52 AM PDT by Springman (Rest In Peace YaYa123)
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To: Robe

Maybe an outsider my age sees this in 20/20 vision.

I know people have a lot of painfull feelings from Vietnam. and I don’t want this message to be misread as me telling any war vets to “get over” their mental effects from the war. I can’t imagine that is even possible in many cases.

but this stuff was 40+ years ago and it needs to be soaked away in the blood of Jesus.

lets move forward as a country.


93 posted on 07/06/2009 8:09:17 AM PDT by se_ohio_young_conservative (Palin 2012)
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To: Springman

The Internet is full of answers - I suggest you look it up yourself.


94 posted on 07/06/2009 8:10:58 AM PDT by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
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To: se_ohio_young_conservative
You are definately not a product of the sixties...nuff said...

95 posted on 07/06/2009 8:15:01 AM PDT by ~Vor~ (A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.)
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To: muawiyah
Gee, another know it all whose contribution to the free world was becoming a dogface, then telling everyone it's just like being in the Marines.
I guarantee you wouldn't make a pimple on a good Marine's ass.
96 posted on 07/06/2009 8:15:30 AM PDT by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
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To: se_ohio_young_conservative
Ya, he does. He got lots of American solders killed with his ideas. Sorry. That is the way it is. And if you studied the war you would come up with the same conclusion. There will be a long line of vetrans to water his grave. He was an unconscious incompetent. He listened to no one. He had all the answers.
97 posted on 07/06/2009 8:18:06 AM PDT by 70th Division (I love my country but fear my government!)
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To: meandog

The worst Secdef in my lifetime.

1. Simon Cameron
2. Robert S. McNamara
3. Donald Rumsfeld

Where would Les Aspin fit on this list? He denied armored vehicles to our troops in Somalia. We are very fortunate for his short tenure as SecDef.


98 posted on 07/06/2009 8:19:08 AM PDT by Freds2nd
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To: saminfl

The F-111 turned out to be a very good airplane for the Air Force. Gaddafi probably still has nightmares about the night that the F-111’s almost got him. However, the F-111B Navy version was a boondoggle thanks to McNamara. $377 million was spent on the Navy version before it was scrapped because it weighed 40% more than the Navy requirement. Only 7 F-111B aircraft were built.


99 posted on 07/06/2009 8:21:27 AM PDT by DFG (1 useless man is called a disgrace, 2 are called a law firm, 3 or more are called Congress)
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To: se_ohio_young_conservative

A man is dead. We don’t get to judge what happens to his immortal soul. Jesus can and will save him if accepts that salvation but none of that means that we can’t speak the truth about what he did here on earth. He has the blood of many on his hands, he had great responsibility and did not perform his duties in good faith. I am sure he (like all mankind) has done many things for which he should repent. For the sake of his soul I hope he has.


100 posted on 07/06/2009 8:23:42 AM PDT by Barb4Bush (God help us all!)
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