He is the longest-serving, most controversial and probably the most influential secretary of defense in American history. Famous events such as the Berlin Wall crisis, the Bay of Pigs incident, the Cuban missile crisis, and the escalation of the Vietnam War all occurred at the peak of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union 196 1- 1968 during his tenure, leaving deep traces of McNamara. Because of its leading role in the Vietnam War, the unpopular war that had a far-reaching impact on American society was even called "McNamara's War". Seven years of military service is the most concerned moment in his life, and it is also the beginning of his life tragedy. The trauma of Vietnam War became McNamara's personal trauma and nightmare, which made him a "public enemy" symbolizing the war machine. 1995 published the memoir "Review: Vietnam's Tragedy and Lessons".
No matter how to evaluate his life's merits and demerits, the fact is that few people can quickly change from an "outsider" to an important person like McNamara, and few people know or remember that he used to be a professor at Harvard Business School, the second person of Ford Motor Company and the president of the World Bank. Although his early experiences at Harvard and Ford were not as compelling as his stories at the Pentagon, they laid the foundation for his later style-extremely smart and good at numbers. Shortly after the war, McNamara and his wife both suffered from polio. He recovered quickly, but his wife's illness dragged on for a long time. Afraid that he could not afford the medical expenses, he gave up his teaching position at Harvard and joined the Ford Motor Company with a higher salary. At that time, Ford's internal management was chaotic and suffered serious losses. Most of its executives have never been to college and know nothing about modern management. McNamara and several other officers retired from the Air Force-they were later called "prodigies"-were brought under the command of Henry Ford II.
The task of "smart boys" is simple and arduous, and that is to revive Ford. They introduced modern management principles into Ford and used quantitative methods to control costs and output. Behind these, McNamara's shrewd mind is everywhere. 1957, when the car was still beautiful, he thought: housewives don't need to drive two tons of cars to buy food at all. Making the car smaller not only saves raw materials, but also saves fuel. This kind of car must have a market. When he told the management the idea, the response was: You are right, but what kind of car do you want-fashionable or practical? Is it suitable for young people or middle class? Obviously, McNamara's idea only considers the quantifiable part of the car, and completely ignores the unquantifiable but equally important things. His greatest advantage is his sensitivity and accuracy to numbers, and it is also the biggest shortcoming that makes him make mistakes repeatedly. But as far as cars are concerned, his idea is very correct. Ford introduced the extremely successful compact Falcon sedan in 1959, and a slim version of the equally successful Lincoln sedan was introduced a few years later.
Just as Ford gradually turned losses into profits under the leadership of "smart boy", McNamara's career was also booming. 1960165438+10. In October, less than 45 years old, he became the president of the company after Ford II. Never before has an "outsider" climbed to such a high position in Ford. Five weeks later, the newly elected President Kennedy invited McNamara to be the Secretary of Defense. Later, he half-jokingly recalled that he didn't even know the difference between a nuclear warhead and a station wagon. He protested to Kennedy: "This is ridiculous. I am not qualified at all. " The other person's answer is: "There is no school in the world to train presidents." McNamara gave up $3 million worth of Ford stock and options for this job with an annual salary of $25,000. Many people describe him as a hawk and a cold war veteran, but just like his past experience, McNamara is more like an extremely shrewd technocrat, sometimes ignoring many important factors. During the Cuban missile crisis, he still strongly opposed the use of force against the background that the US military had made plans to invade Cuba. His consideration is simple: once the United States invades Cuba, the Soviet Union is likely to invade Turkey where American missiles are deployed, and once things get there, things may get out of hand. Therefore, his suggestion is that the United States remove its missiles in Turkey, which is exactly the exchange condition proposed by the United States and the Soviet Union in private reconciliation. But in the Vietnam War, McNamara's emphasis on numbers overshadowed other factors that determined the direction of the war. He measured the progress of the war by the number of fighters dispatched, the number of bombs dropped and the number of enemies killed. More and more American troops have been invested, but only the number of casualties has increased, rather than the expected "inevitable" and "logically doomed" victory. He later repented and said, "The complexity of war is beyond the understanding of human thinking, and our judgment and understanding are insufficient. We killed many people unnecessarily. "
The figures also condemned McNamara's "crime": the US military killed16,000 people during his term of office, and the entire Vietnam War consumed the lives of 42,000 American soldiers, with millions of Vietnamese soldiers and civilians behind them. He realized his mistake on 1966, and he began to doubt whether the United States could defeat the guerrillas, who once drove the French out of the same jungle. He concluded that the United States could not win in Vietnam and privately opposed sending more troops to Vietnam. This made him lose the trust of lyndon johnson, Kennedy's successor. He thought that he started playing the peace card and had the intention of moving closer to his political rival Kennedy Jr. McNamara could not tell whether to resign or be fired. 1February 29, 968, McNamara left the Pentagon. He was too excited to speak at the graduation ceremony. Johnson put his arm around his shoulder and accompanied him back to his room. Started to be the President of the World Bank 13 years. These real past events were drowned in the criticism, accusation and moral torture of the war. In his later years, McNamara never stopped reflecting on the Vietnam War and his life: "I think we should never use our economic, political and military power unilaterally again. If we follow this principle, we will not be involved in the Vietnam War at all. " He opposed the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 and even recalled his actions during World War II: "We killed thousands of Japanese civilians. General Curtis Flamel once said that if we lose, we are war criminals. I think he is right. We act like war criminals. " For those who won the just war, the most sincere introspection is to admit their own war criminals.
In the 2003 documentary "Smoke in the Vietnam War: robert mcnamara's 1 1 a valuable lesson", he discussed the same problem. In the first year of the US-Iraq War, this documentary became the most popular movie in cinemas and won the title of Best Documentary at the Oscar. In 2004, the National Committee on US-China Relations showed the film Thirteen Days, which reflected the Cuban missile crisis, at the foreign policy forum held in Washington, D.C. McNama, 88, watched the film with many China students. After the end, he made a short speech: "The Cuban missile crisis taught me a lesson-the United States and the Soviet Union, two countries that were quite rational at that time, almost went to nuclear war when neither side had any real motivation to launch a nuclear war. This tells us how dangerous nuclear weapons and nuclear proliferation are. " This sentence is much more true than the movie that described America as a famous, intelligent and calm political party, but the dramatic plot and simplification of reality are always more attractive than the real history, just like the life of this misunderstood old man.