So long, Robert McNamara

Long villainized and rightfully so, Mr. McNamara managed to live to 93 and change many of our conceptions of him in his later years (the documentary film of which he was the subject, The Fog of War – Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara, introduced me to the New McNamara, so much more human than the one that still resides in history).

He struggled with difficult decisions to his final years in regards to his crucial role, but perhaps not quite as great a role as suggested my the moniker “McNamara’s War”, in the prosecution of the War in Vietnam under JFK and LBJ.

Many of the decisions he made in the ’60s seem barbaric and callous to those of us with the benefits of hindsight, and millions at the time who would be considered dovish to the war.  But as time passed, and political and personal restrictions seemed to loosen, Mr. McNamara was able to voice the reservations he had about the nation’s course that he hid behind a politically-necessary facade at the time of its persecution.

In The Fog of War as well as his books (such as In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of the Vietnam War), McNamara discloses some of his decision-making processes and mounts a convincing partial-defense.  He doesn’t abdicate responsibility, nor hide regrets, but he does fill some of the holes in the public story.

His adult life was a testament to intellect and cold calculation:  His last years were a testament to the regrets that come from his years of great power, which he wielded to great effect.

His life, taken as a whole, reveals many of the once-secret processes of the executive, and attempts to reveal some of the still-secret processes of the exceptional individuals whose name are used to recall great events and great tragedies.

Let us hope that death shall salve the regrets that haunted McNamara for the past half-century, and let us hope the story of his life serve as a lesson for those who to accomplish great things without repeating all of his mistakes.

“Robert S. McNamara, Architect of a Futile War, Dies at 93 By TIM WEINER

Mr. McNamara helped lead the U.S. into the Vietnam War and spent the rest of his life wrestling with its moral consequences.”

… and the cow goes moo