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 ...
Actually, the Vark turned out to be a really good airplane.
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.
The worst Secdef in my lifetime.
___________________________
Vietnam vets agree.
Strange.
He has a lot of angry hands on him now ...
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 ~
My choice for worst SoD is Louis Johnson (Truman appointee).
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.
Cameron and Rumsfeld didn’t even start to be bad enough to be included with McNamara- he is in a class all by himself.
I would make some room for Les Aspin on that list, maybe not top 3, but definitely top 5.
If someone is a murderer’s accomplice doesn’t that make him a murderer, too?
Please explain. How did McNamara help win WWII?
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.
The Internet is full of answers - I suggest you look it up yourself.
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.
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.
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.
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