Have you read "Dereliction of Duty"? It has lots of stuff from the archives of the Johnson library that only became available in recent years. It lays out NcNamara's antics in detail. The chiefs had the resources necessary to take on the task pretty well assessed early on but McNamara browbeat them into telling Johnson what McNamara wanted him to hear. He despised the military and basically ignored the military staff work.
I guarantee if you read that book you will be p!ssed of to the maximum degree of pissifissity.
But that was the whole problem with the Kennedy administration - they thought they were the "best and brightest" so they bypassed good staff work in favor of ad hoc committees of their own clones. And they produced the Berlin Wall, a communist Cuba, surrenduring the Turkey missiles and the Vietnam mess. They didn't even fact check their own speeches. Did you know "Ich Bien Ein Berliner" means "I am a jelly donut"???
LOL. Yeah I knew about the Jelly donut remark. I can remember my mom busting out laughing and explaning why to us.
The "best and brightest" attitude seems to apply to all democrats not just the Kennedy Adminstration.
Haven't read that book, I'll have to remember it for when I want to put myself in a bad mood.