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Robert McNamara ( 1916 - 2009 )  Category ( Political_Leaders ) [suggest a correction]
 

Robert McNamaraRobert McNamara became a major player on two high-profile playing fields -- the automobile industry and the federal government.

This later success was foreshadowed by his early years. An Eagle Scout as a boy in Piedmont, CA, he brought strong high school academics to the University of California, where he majored in economics and was perhaps unique in his class with minors in both mathematics and philosophy. He also joined a fraternity and an ROTC unit and earned a varsity letter in crew.

McNamara maintained his forward momentum after graduation in 1938, getting an MBA from Harvard and then being hired there to teach business administration. He joined the Army Air Force in 1943, and spent the rest of World War II behind the scenes with the Office of Statistical Control, specializing in the efficiency of U.S. bombers and leaving as a lieutenant.

After the war, McNamara's military ties proved quite useful when a colonel under whom he had served hired him at Ford Motor Company. Along with nine other former officers who became known as the Whiz Kids. McNamara was given the responsibility for planning and financial analysis, a post in which his unique background in philosophy and mathematics proved invaluable.

Two Ford models wounds up making McNamara's reputation, in two very different ways.

The first was the Edsel, doomed to become a synonym for manufacturing failure. McNamara became the anti-Edsel at Ford, trying at every juncture of its development to get that program stopped. Time, of course, proved him right.

Time also proved him a prophet in the case of the Ford Falcon, first produced in 1959. It was small, inexpensive, and included a number of safety factors that McNamara had advocated -- including seat belts.

On Nov. 9, 1960, McNamara was reward by Ford with the company presidency. This was a huge step for the Fords, who had never before entrusted the firm to someone outside the family.

McNamara didn’t remain in that position long, however, because president-elect John F. Kennedy came calling. Such was McNamara’s versatility and reputation that he was approached regarding both the Secretary of the Treasury and Secretary of Defense posts. After some urging on Kennedy’s part, he chose the latter.

As chronicled in David Halberstam’s book on Vietnam, “The Best and the Brightest,” McNamara immediately plunged into learning all he could about the defense establishment. What he found was considerable redundancy and inefficiency, prompting him to advocate a single defense policy as opposed to separate policies advanced by the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. Harkening back to his Edsel period, he also eliminated a number of programs he considered wasteful and unnecessary.

In December of 1961, McNamara established STRICOM, a multi-service operation designed to “respond swiftly and with whatever force necessary to threats against the peace in any part of the world.”

This, of course, included Vietnam, where the United States was already involved in an advisory capacity.

In 1964, McNamara used the Gulf of Tonkin incident to advocate a sharp buildup in U.S. forces in Vietnam. By the end of 1967, nearly 500,000 troops were committed. Since McNamara believed that the Viet Cong had limited resources and manpower, he hoped to overwhelm his enemy by sheer numbers – and, later, by strategic bombing.

Eventually, however, McNamara became disenchanted with the war and its chances for success. On Feb. 29, 1968, he left office and went back into the business world, serving as head of the World Bank.

McNamara remained a prominent figure in his final years, especially with the release of his autobiography, “Promise and Power: The Life and times of Robert McNamara” in 1993. He died in his sleep on July 6, 2009, at the age of 93.

Image: Robert McNamara in 1964.


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