Robert McNamara

[fabrisse]

My father is a kind man. There are only two people I have ever heard him express hatred or deep contempt for. One of them was Robert McNamara.

McNamara's decisions had a profound effect on my life. Dad was one of the original advisors sent to Vietnam in 1961. The war shaped his military career, and it shaped our family. The phone call sending him there came as they were bringing me home from the hospital.

Dad briefed McNamara twice. Apparently, he was rude in the extreme. He tried to throw the briefer off and would rarely allow people to complete a sentence.

None of the articles I have read by or about Robert McNamara would lead me to think my father's opinion is wrong.

Comments

[riverfox.livejournal.com]

Indeed. To say it in the low-brow manner, the man was a dick.

[fabrisse.livejournal.com]

At best. John Donne may think every man's death diminishes me, but McNamara's bothers me not one whit.

[riverfox.livejournal.com]

Me either. I don't think a man who was responsible for many deaths (Vietnam) shouldn't be mourned. Only those deaths he caused.