Kennedy: The chances of this becoming a much broader struggle are increased as you step up the ? talk about danger to the United States. How do we stop at that point? I don't know the answer to this. I don't know quite what kind of a world we'll live in after we've struck Cuba. The second thing we have to do is to consider the consequences. First, we need to develop a specific strike plan. President, we need to do two things, it seems to me. Kennedy: In the next 24 hours, what is it we need to do? The first day's air attack was planned at 1080 sorties, a huge air attack. They thought 20 were coming on a ship named the Poltava. said the warheads had not been delivered yet. Under a cloak of deceit, the Soviet Union introduced nuclear missiles into Cuba, targeting 90 million Americans. On the calendar are engraved the dates: October 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23,24, 25, 26, 27, and finally 28, were the dates when we literally looked down the gun barrel into nuclear war. McNamara: Yes, this was given by President Kennedy. Secretary, I've noticed in several cabinet offices that little silver calendar thing there. His critics call him "a conman," "an IBM machine with legs," "an arrogant dictator." Walter Lippmann calls him not only the best Secretary of Defense, but the first one who ever asserted civilian control over the military. His job has been called the toughest in Washington, and McNamara is the most controversial figure that has ever held the job. His department absorbs 10% of the national income of this country, and over half of every tax dollar. Harry Reasoner: This is the Secretary of Defense of the United States, Robert McNamara. My rule has been try to learn, try to understand what happened. At my age, 85, I'm at age where I can look back and derive some conclusions about my actions.
13 years at the World Bank across the world. Army during World War II.ħ years as Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam War. You make one mistake and you're going to destroy nations They'll be no learning period with nuclear weapons. Maybe we make the same mistake three times, but hopefully not four or five. But, he hasn't destroyed nations.Īnd the conventional wisdom is don't make the same mistake twice, learn from your mistakes. A hundred, or thousands, or tens of thousands, maybe even a hundred thousand. He's killed people unnecessarily his own troops or other troops through mistakes, through errors of judgment. Any military commander who is honest with himself, or with those he's speaking to, will admit that he has made mistakes in the application of military power. I don't want to go back, introduce the sentence, because I know exactly what I wanted to say. I remember how it started, and I was cut off in the middle. McNamara: Now I remember exactly the sentence I left off on. Let me hear your voice level to make sure it's the same. McNamara: Is this chart at a reasonable height? Or do you want it lowered? Earlier tonight let me first ask the T.V., are you ready? All set? THE FOG OF WAR: ELEVEN LESSONS FROM THE LIFE OF ROBERT S.
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