Robert McNamara commentary on the Cuban missile crisis

Robert McNamara commenting on the Cuban missile crisis and how such risks and scenarios are still very real today. Robert McNamara (born June 9, 1916) is an American business executive and a former United States Secretary of Defense. McNamara served as U.S. Secretary of Defense from 1961 to 1968, during the Vietnam War. He resigned that position to become President of the World Bank (1968-1981). McNamara was responsible for the institution of systems analysis in public policy, which developed into the discipline known today as policy analysis.

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People & Blogs

Tags:

• Robert
• McNamara
• Cuban
• missile
• crisis
• Policy
• analysis
• Secretary
• of
• Defence
• Nuclear
• Threat
• Explosion
• Destruction
• Strategic

[Rhenoism]

Ahh. Here it is. Check out 3:05. The US DID build and test a bomb that was bigger than Czar Bomba.

Nah. Nations are controlled by elites, and the elites prevented nuclear war. It wasn't luck.

[CossieKid]

Rhenoism, your'e probably very right.

[CossieKid]

Yes it is, I wanted to encapsulate what I thought the overall message of the documentary was into a few minutes. Thankyou for the recommendation.

[dsenerdem]

Joel, you have not understood a single thing about what Mcnamara is saying. He is pointing out that even the rational people led their nations to the edge of war. He says that there are nuclear bombs ready to launch in 15 minutes, in the hands of individuals like you and me. That is catastrophic as human fallibility and nuclear bombs do not form a good combination as he remarks.

[angryseraph]

Interesting to contrast McNamara with Rumsfeld, i.e. a brilliant, candid guy who made big mistakes versus an arrogant moron.

[IriathZhul]

@bogglerful Well, he certainly wouldn't have resigned--he encouraged it greatly. But that doesn't mean you should lay the blame squarely at his feet. People should blame Kennedy for being a naive optimist and thinking the war would help the South Vietnamese, but they choose to ignore his culpability simply because he was assassinated.

[bogglerful]

@IriathZhul He had the power to speak out in opposition to the war, and he had the power to resign. He did neither.

[IriathZhul]

@bogglerful Every US president in power during the War had the full power as commander-and-chief to end the conflict at any point. McNamara could not override that decision had it been made.

[bogglerful]

@IriathZhul Who had the power to stop it? Name names.

In any event, I'm sorry that fellow didn't succeed in hurling McNamara over the side.

[IriathZhul]

@bogglerful You are aware that there were other people involved in this, right? Kennedy and Nixon played critical parts in perpetuating the conflict. McNamara may have encouraged the war but he didn't have the power to start or stop it.

[IriathZhul]

Looks like the nukes worked...they scared USA and Russia out of fighting.

[charms71]

@Rhenoism no, i believe that was the Russians.

[WKaliberr]

you fucking crook and pussy McNamara! war criminal

[nipponese]

@Rhenoism So who are the elites?

[Neroscot]

Yes Sir, Crimes and sins are the evidence of war !