Robert S. McNamara

The former U.S. Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara died on Monday July 6. He was a towering figure but also a complicated one–an architect of the Vietnam War who came to believe that the United States should never undertake unilateral military action unless it was protecting its own territory. He served two presidents, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, and helped forge U.S. policy during major foreign policy crises including Vietnam and the Cuban Missile Crisis. He was an intriguing figure as he aged, combing through his life and deeds for mistakes and lessons learned and trying to apply them to the future. He went on to combat poverty as president of the World Bank and he championed the cause of nuclear disarmament later in his life. In this week’s podcast we remember his career and talk to filmmaker Errol Morris about the lessons Robert S. McNamara represented. As a reporter I find it’s often these moments when a key player from an earlier era passes away that I finally take the time to better understand a particular event or series of events in our history.