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88-565: The Chicago News Cooperative was formed in October 2009 as the brainchild of journalist and author Peter Osnos . In November 2009, the cooperative started providing the content for a twice-a-week, two-page section in the Chicago edition of The New York Times. The cooperative had been funded primarily by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation . The Chicago News Cooperative operated out of

176-469: A "light" system which he believed could protect against the far smaller number of Chinese missiles. However, he never believed it was wise for the United States to move in that direction because of psychological risks of relying too much on nuclear weaponry and that there would be pressure from many directions to build a larger system than would be militarily effective. McNamara always believed that

264-676: A Harvard program to teach analytical approaches used in business to officers of the United States Army Air Forces, McNamara entered the USAAF as a captain in early 1943, serving most of World War II with its Office of Statistical Control. One of his major responsibilities was the analysis of U.S. bombers' efficiency and effectiveness, especially the B-29 forces commanded by Major General Curtis LeMay in India , China , and

352-523: A Soviet attack of any kind, which would kill Soviet military forces and civilians. This was the same nuclear strategy planned by the Strategic Air Command (SAC), led by General Curtis LeMay . McNamara did not agree with this approach. He sought other options after seeing that this strategy could not guarantee the destruction of all Soviet nuclear weapons , thus leaving the United States vulnerable to retaliation. He educated NATO members on

440-416: A basis for determining whether to begin or continue a research and development program. But in practice, what it proved to be was a cost burden that became a barrier to entry for companies attempting to deal with the military. It aided the trend toward a few large non-competitive defense contractors serving the military. Rather than serving any useful purpose, the overhead necessary to generate information that

528-614: A close adviser to Kennedy and advocated the use of a blockade during the Cuban Missile Crisis . Kennedy and McNamara instituted a Cold War defense strategy of flexible response , which anticipated the need for military responses short of massive retaliation . McNamara consolidated intelligence and logistics functions of the Pentagon into two centralized agencies: the Defense Intelligence Agency and

616-578: A collision. After the Lincoln line's very large 1958, 1959, and 1960 models proved unpopular, McNamara pushed for smaller versions, such as the 1961 Lincoln Continental . On November 9, 1960, McNamara became the first president of the Ford Motor Company from outside the Ford family since John S. Gray in 1906. After his election in 1960, President-elect John F. Kennedy first offered

704-489: A conventional war in central Europe against the Soviet Army , with a large number of divisions armed with expensive hi-tech weapons designed for maximum firepower, instead of having small teams of Special Forces armed with relatively low tech weapons like assault rifles fight in a Third World country. When McNamara took over the Pentagon in 1961, the United States military relied on an all-out nuclear strike to respond to

792-481: A fighter that could do everything (fast supersonic dash, slow carrier and short airfield landings, tactical strike and even close air support), in the end it involved too many compromises to succeed at any of them. The Navy version was drastically overweight and difficult to land, and eventually canceled after a Grumman study showed it was incapable of matching the abilities of the newly revealed Soviet MiG-23 and MiG-25 aircraft. The F-111 eventually found its niche as

880-555: A one-point ordered McNamara out of the Naval Operations Room, saying that as a civilian he was unqualified to be making decisions about naval matters, leading McNamara to say that he was the Defense Secretary and Anderson was unqualified to be ordering him to do anything.   On Tuesday October 16, ExComm had their first meeting. The majority of officials favored an air attack on Cuba in hopes to destroy

968-639: A statement of alternative approaches, force levels, and other factors. The DPM in its final form became a decision document. The DPM was hated by the JCS and uniformed military in that it cut their ability to communicate directly to the White House. The DPMs were also disliked because the systems analysis process was so heavyweight that it was impossible for any service to effectively challenge its conclusions. The Development Concept Paper examined performance, schedule, cost estimates, and technical risks to provide

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1056-579: A tactical bomber and electronic warfare aircraft with the Air Force. However, many analysts believe that even though the TFX project itself was a failure, McNamara was ahead of his time as the trend in fighter design has continued toward consolidation—the F-16 Falcon and F/A-18 Hornet emerged as multi-role fighters, and most modern designs combine many of the roles the TFX would have had. In many ways,

1144-515: Is chair of the board of the Center for Civilians in Conflict . She is a daughter of diplomat Albert W. Sherer Jr. He has two children: Katherine Osnos Sanford and journalist Evan Osnos ; and five grandchildren. Robert McNamara Robert Strange McNamara ( / ˈ m æ k n ə m ær ə / ; June 9, 1916 – July 6, 2009) was an American businessman and government official who served as

1232-486: Is no such thing as strategy, only crisis management." After the crisis, McNamara recommended to Kennedy that Admiral Anderson and General LeMay be sacked. However, Kennedy was afraid of a Congressional backlash if he sacked two of the chiefs at once. Moreover, Kennedy did not wish for his disagreements with the Joint Chiefs to become public and felt that sacking two of the chiefs at once would lead to speculation in

1320-696: The Brookings Institution . In his later writings and interviews, he expressed regret for the decisions he made during the Vietnam War. Robert McNamara was born in San Francisco, California. His father was Robert James McNamara, sales manager of a wholesale shoe company, and his mother was Clara Nell (Strange) McNamara. His father's family was Irish and, in about 1850, following the Great Irish Famine , had emigrated to

1408-492: The Cold War doctrine of deterrence . McNamara's alternative in the doctrine of counterforce was to try to limit the United States nuclear exchange by targeting only enemy military forces. This would prevent retaliation and escalation by holding Soviet cities hostage to a follow-up strike. McNamara later concluded that counterforce was not likely to control escalation but to provoke retaliation. The U.S. nuclear policy remained

1496-705: The Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, McNamara served as a member of EXCOMM and played a large role in the Administration's handling and eventual defusing of the Cuban Missile Crisis. He was a strong proponent of the blockade option over a missile strike and helped persuade the Joint Chiefs of Staff to agree with the blockade option. Increased attention to conventional strength complemented these special forces preparations. In this instance, he called up reserves and also proceeded to expand

1584-683: The Defense Supply Agency . During the Kennedy administration, McNamara presided over a build-up of U.S. soldiers in South Vietnam . After the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident , the number of U.S. soldiers in Vietnam escalated dramatically. McNamara and other U.S. policymakers feared that the fall of South Vietnam to a Communist regime would lead to the fall of other governments in the region . McNamara grew increasingly skeptical of

1672-536: The Ford Falcon sedan, introduced in the fall of 1959—a small, simple and inexpensive-to-produce counter to the large, expensive vehicles prominent in the late 1950s. McNamara placed a high emphasis on safety: the Lifeguard options package introduced the seat belt (a novelty at the time), padded visor, and dished steering wheel, which helped to prevent the driver from being impaled on the steering column during

1760-543: The Joint Strike Fighter is seen as a rebirth of the TFX project, according to defense analyst David S. Grantham, in that it purports to satisfy the needs of three American air arms (as well as several foreign customers), fulfilling the roles of strike fighter, carrier-launched fighter, V/STOL , and close air support (and drawing many criticisms similar to those leveled against the TFX). The Cuban Missile Crisis

1848-593: The Mariana Islands . McNamara established a statistical control unit for the XX Bomber Command and devised schedules for B-29s doubling as transports for carrying fuel and cargo over the Hump . He left active duty in 1946 with the rank of lieutenant colonel and with a Legion of Merit . In 1946, Tex Thornton , a colonel under whom McNamara had served, put together a group of former officers from

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1936-733: The Phi Gamma Delta fraternity , was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in his sophomore year, and earned a varsity letter in crew . Before commissioning into the Army Air Force, McNamara was a Cadet in the Golden Bear Battalion at U.C. Berkeley. McNamara was also a member of the UC Berkeley's Order of the Golden Bear , a fellowship of students and leading faculty members formed to promote leadership within

2024-724: The Philippines in support. McNamara noted to Kennedy it was quite possible that the two airfields in Laos could be seized by the Communist forces, which would cut off any U.S. forces in Laos and turn the intervention into a debacle. At a meeting on 29 April 1961, when questioned by the Attorney General, Robert F. Kennedy, McNamara stated that "we should take a stand in Thailand and South Vietnam", pointedly omitting Laos from

2112-734: The Strategic Army Corps (STRAC), the Tactical Air Command , and the airlift units of the Military Air Transport Service and the military services, Strike Command had the mission "to respond swiftly and with whatever force necessary to threats against the peace in any part of the world, reinforcing unified commands or... carrying out separate contingency operations." McNamara also increased long-range airlift and sealift capabilities and funds for space research and development. After reviewing

2200-661: The TFX, later known as the F-111 dual service project to combine Navy requirements for a Fleet Air Defense (FAD) aircraft and Air Force requirements for a tactical bomber. His experience in the corporate world led him to believe that adopting a single type for different missions and service would save money. He insisted on the General Dynamics entry over the DOD's preference for Boeing because of commonality issues. Though heralded as

2288-465: The "Quiz Kids". The Quiz Kids rebranded themselves as the " Whiz Kids ". Starting as manager of planning and financial analysis, McNamara advanced rapidly through a series of top-level management positions. McNamara had Ford adopt computers to construct models to find the most efficient, rational means of production, which led to much rationalization. McNamara's style of "scientific management" with his use of spreadsheets featuring graphs showing trends in

2376-400: The 150 project review process authorized by McNamara. Funding and staff were contributed by every branch of the U.S. armed services and intelligence agencies. Project 112 primarily concerned the use of aerosols to disseminate biological and chemical agents that could produce "controlled temporary incapacitation". The test program was conducted on a large scale at "extracontinental test sites" in

2464-494: The Air Force. Conversely, his actions in mandating a premature across-the-board adoption of the untested M16 rifle proved catastrophic when the weapons began to fail in combat, though later congressional investigations revealed the causes of these failures as negligence and borderline sabotage on behalf of the Army ordnance corps' officers. McNamara tried to extend his success by merging development programs as well, resulting in

2552-594: The Central and South Pacific with some exposure to military personnel, and secretly in civilian locations such as the New York subway with bacteria deemed 'harmless' but without consent. McNamara took other steps to increase U.S. deterrence posture and military capabilities. In December 1961, he established the United States Strike Command (STRICOM). Authorized to draw forces when needed from

2640-645: The Cold War. The problems posed by the possibility of a war with China and the logistical problems of supporting a large units of troops in Laos led McNamara ultimately to favor an alternative strategy of stationing a small number of U.S. Army Special Forces in Laos to work with American allies such as the Hmong hill tribes. On 29 September 1961, the Joint Chiefs of Staff estimated to McNamara that if Chinese forces entered Laos, then SEATO forces would need at least 15 divisions consisting of some 278, 000 men to stop them. At

2728-733: The Communists in the North to unify the country. Aid was initially limited to financial support, military advice and covert intelligence gathering but expanded after 1954 when the French withdrew. The US Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) Vietnam was established on 1 November 1955. In December 1956 the North Vietnam government authorized Viet Cong forces in South Vietnam to begin a low-level insurgency. The first battle between

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2816-462: The FYDP covered ten military areas: strategic forces, general-purpose forces, intelligence and communications, airlift and sealift, guard and reserve forces, research and development, central supply and maintenance, training and medical services, administration and related activities, and support of other nations. The Draft Presidential Memorandum (DPM)—intended for the White House and usually prepared by

2904-587: The House Tip O’Neill , Charles Peters , Nancy Reagan , Andy Rooney , Morley Safer , Natan Sharansky , George Soros , Susan Swain , former President Donald Trump , Paul Volcker , Juan Williams , James Wolfensohn , former Russian President Boris Yeltsin , and Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus . From 2006 to 2014, he wrote the Platform column for the Century Foundation , which

2992-515: The Kennedy Administration to work and socialize with Kennedy, and he became close to Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy , eventually serving as a pallbearer at the younger Kennedy's funeral in 1968. Initially, the basic policies outlined by President Kennedy in a message to Congress on March 28, 1961, guided McNamara in the reorientation of the defense program. Kennedy rejected the concept of first-strike attack and emphasized

3080-775: The Kennedy administration, McNamara was closely aligned with Dean Rusk, the Secretary of State, with both favoring greater American support for South Vietnam. Initially, the main concern of the new Kennedy administration was Laos, not South Vietnam. In February 1961, McNamara spoke in favor of intervention in Laos, saying that six AT-6 planes owned by the Central Intelligence Agency could be fitted to carry 200-pound bombs in support of General Phoumi Nosavan 's forces. Rusk shot down that proposal, saying his World War II experiences in Burma had taught him that bombing

3168-470: The Korean War were still fresh, and it was generally accepted if the United States sent in troops into Laos, it was almost certain to provoke Chinese intervention and lead to another confrontation with the country. The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) was split with its European members such as France and Britain in opposition to the intervention and its Asian members such as Thailand and

3256-502: The McNamara era, Alain C. Enthoven and K. Wayne Smith , described the concept as follows: "First, the word 'systems' indicates that every decision should be considered in as broad a context as necessary... The word 'analysis' emphasizes the need to reduce a complex problem to its component parts for better understanding. Systems analysis takes a complex problem and sorts out the tangle of significant factors so that each can be studied by

3344-492: The McNamara years. Fiscal year TOA increased from $ 48.4 billion in 1962 (equal to $ 373 billion in 2023) to $ 49.5 ($ 365) billion in 1965 (before the major Vietnam increases) to $ 74.9 ($ 501) billion in 1968, McNamara's last year in office (though he left office in February). Not until FY 1984 did DoD's total obligational authority surpass that of FY 1968 in constant dollars . One major hallmark of McNamara's cost reductions

3432-784: The Office of Statistical Control to go into business together. Thornton had seen an article in Life magazine portraying the Ford Motor Company as being in dire need of reform. Henry Ford II, himself a World War II veteran from the Navy , hired the entire group of ten, including McNamara. They helped the money-losing company reform its chaotic administration through modern planning, organization, and management control systems. Because of their youth, combined with asking many questions, Ford employees initially and disparagingly referred to them as

3520-594: The Soviet Union if they were ordered to do so. This would lead to a number of Broken Arrow nuclear weapon accidents. McNamara was concerned that unauthorized use of nuclear weapons was possible. He advocated the development of what became known as Permissive Action Links (PALs) , devices incorporated into nuclear weapons that would render them inoperable during an unauthorized attempted use. The PALs were first installed on weapons stored in Europe, and then throughout

3608-547: The U.S. inventory. Toward the end of his term McNamara also opposed an anti-ballistic missile (ABM) system proposed for installation in the U.S. in defense against Soviet missiles, arguing the $ 40 billion "in itself is not the problem; the penetrability of the proposed shield is the problem." Under pressure to proceed with the ABM program after it became clear that the Soviets had begun a similar project, McNamara finally agreed to

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3696-575: The U.S., first to Massachusetts and later to California. He graduated from Piedmont High School in Piedmont, California in 1933, where he was president of the Rigma Lions boys club and earned the rank of Eagle Scout . McNamara attended the University of California, Berkeley and graduated in 1937 with a B.A. in economics with minors in mathematics and philosophy . He was a member of

3784-404: The United States could afford any amount needed for national security, but that "this ability does not excuse us from applying strict standards of effectiveness and efficiency to the way we spend our defense dollars.... You have to make a judgment on how much is enough." Acting on these principles, McNamara instituted a much-publicized cost reduction program, which, he reported, saved $ 14 billion in

3872-467: The United States guaranteed to not invade Cuba then they would take the missiles out. The second message, a more formal one, was broadcast on the radio stating if the United States attacked then Cuba was prepared to retaliate with masses of military power. Although American defense planning focused on using nuclear weapons , Kennedy and McNamara saw it was clear the use of strategic weapons could be suicidal. Following Cuba's aftermath, McNamara stated, "There

3960-835: The Viet Cong and the South Vietnamese army occurred on 26 September 1959. During President John F. Kennedy's term, while McNamara was Secretary of Defense, American troops in South Vietnam increased from 900 to 16,000 advisers,. They were not supposed to engage in combat but rather to train the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). The Gulf of Tonkin incidents in August 1964, which involved two purported attacks on U.S. Navy destroyers by North Vietnamese naval vessels, led to an escalated of U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Under

4048-425: The World?: Advancing Human Rights and, for Decades, Security in Europe , with Holly Cartner. A forthcoming book, LBJ and McNamara: The Vietnam Partnership Destined to Fail , adapted from an 18-part series Osnos published on Platform, is set to be published in November 2024 by Rivertowns Books. The audiobook, augmented with original recordings, will be produced by Simon & Schuster in January 2025. He has served on

4136-551: The analysis was so large and so complex that while it was available to all interested parties, none of them could challenge the conclusions. Among the management tools developed to implement PPBS were the Five Year Defense Plan (FYDP), the Draft Presidential Memorandum (DPM), the Readiness, Information and Control Tables, and the Development Concept Paper (DCP). The annual FYDP was a series of tables projecting forces for eight years and costs and manpower for five years in mission-oriented, rather than individual service, programs. By 1968,

4224-413: The auto industry were regarded as extremely innovative in the 1950s and were much copied by other executives in the following decades. In his 1995 memoirs, McNamara wrote: "I had spent fifteen years as a manager [at Ford] identifying problems and forcing organizations—often against their will—to think deeply and realistically about alternative courses of action and their consequences". He was a force behind

4312-435: The best defense strategy for the U.S. was a parity of mutual assured destruction with the Soviet Union. An ABM system would be an ineffective weapon as compared to an increase in deployed nuclear missile capacity. Project 112 , a biological and chemical weapon experimentation project, was authorized by Robert McNamara as part of a total review of the US military. The name "Project 112" refers to this project's number in

4400-448: The board of directors of Human Rights Watch , and, from 2005 to 2009, he was executive director of The Caravan Project, a non-profit organization that supported the simultaneous publishing of books in audio, digital, and print formats. He was Vice-Chairman of the Columbia Journalism Review from 2007 to 2012. In 2020, he and his wife Susan co-founded Platform Books LLC. Osnos lives in New York City with his wife Susan Sherer Osnos, who

4488-450: The chance to be either Secretary of Defense or Secretary of the Treasury ; McNamara came back a week later, accepting the post of Secretary of Defense on the condition of having the right of final approval in all appointments to the Department of Defense , with Kennedy replying: "It's a deal". McNamara's salary as the CEO of Ford was $ 3 million per year while by contrast the position of the Defense Secretary paid only $ 25,000 per year. Given

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4576-509: The control of the military and to put it under the control of the Secretary of Defense. In the same year, he set up the Defense Supply Agency to work toward unified supply procurement, distribution, and inventory management under the control of the Secretary of Defense rather than the uniformed military. McNamara's institution of systems analysis as a basis for making key decisions on force requirements, weapon systems, and other matters occasioned much debate. Two of its main practitioners during

4664-425: The crisis. Kennedy instructed ExComm to immediately come up with a response to the Soviet threat unanimously without him present. The Joint Chiefs of Staff favored launching air strikes against the Soviet missile sites in Cuba, an opinion that McNamara did not hold. He advised Kennedy against the chiefs, warning that air strikes would almost certainly be metaphorically crossing the Rubicon . McNamara's relations with

4752-620: The discipline known today as policy analysis . McNamara was born in San Francisco , California , and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley and Harvard Business School . He served in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II . After World War II, Henry Ford II hired McNamara and a group of other Army Air Force veterans to work for Ford Motor Company . These " Whiz Kids " helped reform Ford with modern planning, organization, and management control systems. After briefly serving as Ford's president, McNamara accepted appointment as secretary of defense. McNamara became

4840-405: The efficacy of committing U.S. troops to South Vietnam. In 1968, he resigned as secretary of defense to become president of the World Bank . He served as president until 1981, shifting the focus of the World Bank from infrastructure and industrialization towards poverty reduction. After retiring, he served as a trustee of several organizations, including the California Institute of Technology and

4928-444: The eighth United States secretary of defense from 1961 to 1968 under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson at the height of the Cold War . He remains the longest-serving secretary of defense, having remained in office over seven years. He played a major role in promoting the U.S.'s involvement in the Vietnam War . McNamara was responsible for the institution of systems analysis in public policy , which developed into

5016-485: The enemy avoided head-on military confrontation and resorted to political subversion and guerrilla tactics . As McNamara said in his 1962 annual report, "The military tactics are those of the sniper, the ambush, and the raid. The political tactics are terror, extortion, and assassination." In practical terms, this meant training and equipping U.S. military personnel as well as allies, such as South Vietnam , for those same exact kinds of counterinsurgency operations. During

5104-473: The final review of both alternatives on Sunday, October 21, upon Kennedy's request, McNamara presented the argument against the attack and for the quarantine. On Wednesday, October 24 at 10:00 am EDT, the quarantine line around Cuba went into effect. With tensions continuing to escalate, it was confirmed the crisis had to be resolved within 48 hours when the White House received two messages from Nikita Khrushchev. The first message, an informal one, stated if

5192-414: The financial sacrifices, McNamara was able to insist to Kennedy that he have the right to appoint his officials and run the Pentagon his own way. According to Special Counsel Ted Sorensen , Kennedy regarded McNamara as the "star of his team, calling upon him for advice on a wide range of issues beyond national security, including business and economic matters." McNamara became one of the few members of

5280-459: The five-year period beginning in 1961. Although he had to withstand a storm of criticism from senators and representatives from affected congressional districts, he closed many military bases and installations that he judged unnecessary for national security. He was equally determined about other cost-saving measures. Due to the nuclear arms race, the Vietnam War buildup and other projects, Total Obligational Authority (TOA) increased greatly during

5368-435: The hawkish Joint Chiefs of Staff had been strained during the crisis, and his relations with Admiral George Anderson and General Curtis LeMay were especially testy. Both Anderson and LeMay had favored invading Cuba, welcoming the prospects of a war with the Soviet Union, under the grounds that a war with them was already inevitable, and whose attitudes towards Kennedy and McNamara had verged on insubordination. Anderson had at

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5456-406: The heart of the McNamara management program. According to Enthoven and Smith, the basic ideas of PPBS were: "the attempt to put defense program issues into a broader context and to search for explicit measures of national need and adequacy"; "consideration of military needs and costs together"; "explicit consideration of alternatives at the top decision level"; "the active use of an analytical staff at

5544-446: The media about such a disagreement. Kennedy told McNamara: "All right, you can fire one. Which one will it be?" Without hesitation, McNamara answered "Anderson". Later on in 1963, a White House release announced that Admiral Anderson was the new American ambassador to Portugal . The Truman and Eisenhower administrations had committed the U.S. to support the French and native anti-Communist forces in Vietnam in resisting efforts by

5632-439: The method most appropriate to it." Enthoven and Smith said they used mainly civilians as systems analysts because they could apply independent points of view to force planning. McNamara's tendency to take military advice into less account than had previous secretaries and to override military opinions contributed to his unpopularity with service leaders. It was also generally thought that Systems Analysis, rather than being objective,

5720-459: The missile sites, although the vote was not unanimous which brought them to other alternatives. By the end of the week, ExComm came up with four different alternative strategies to present to the president: a blockade , an air strike , an invasion , or some combination of these. These actions are known as OPLAN 312, OPLAN 314 and OPLAN 316. A quarantine was a way to prevent the Soviets from bringing any military equipment in or out of Cuba. During

5808-433: The nation's "limited warfare" capabilities. These moves were significant because McNamara was abandoning President Dwight D. Eisenhower 's policy of massive retaliation in favor of a flexible response strategy that relied on increased U.S. capacity to conduct limited, non-nuclear warfare. The Kennedy administration placed particular emphasis on improving the ability to counter communist "wars of national liberation", in which

5896-411: The nations in Southeast Asia to risk a war over. McNamara soon changed his mind about Laos. On 1 May 1961, he advised President Kennedy to send in ground troops into Laos, saying "we must be prepared to win", and advising using nuclear weapons if China should intervene. On 2 May, McNamara, using more strong language, told Kennedy that the United States should definitely intervene in Laos, even though he

5984-405: The need for adequate strategic arms and defense to deter nuclear attack on the United States and its allies. U.S. arms, he maintained, must constantly be under civilian command and control , and the nation's defense posture had to be "designed to reduce the danger of irrational or unpremeditated general war." The primary mission of U.S. overseas forces, in cooperation with its allies, was "to prevent

6072-773: The offices of WTTW -TV in Chicago. The cooperative's staff included its editor and co-founder, former Chicago Tribune managing editor (and former Los Angeles Times editor) James O'Shea; its general manager and deputy editor, former Chicago Tribune business columnist David Greising; former Chicago Tribune photographer Jose More, Chicago Tribune City Hall reporter Dan Mihalopoulos, former Omaha World-Herald reporter Katie Fretland , former Chicago Tribune feature writer Don Terry , Meribah Knight, Hunter Clauss, Ash-har Quraishi and former Chicago Tribune sports editor Dan McGrath. Its advisory board included former Chicago Tribune editor Ann Marie Lipinski , while former Chicago Tribune managing editor for features James Warren

6160-795: The post of Secretary of Defense to Robert A. Lovett , who had already served in that position in the Truman administration ; Lovett declined but recommended McNamara. Kennedy had read about McNamara and his career in a Time magazine article on December 2, 1960, and interviewed him on December 8, with his brother and right-hand man Robert F. Kennedy also being present. McNamara told Kennedy that he didn't know anything about government, to which Kennedy replied: "We can learn our jobs together. I don't know how to be president either". McNamara had read Kennedy's ghostwritten book Profiles in Courage and asked him if he had really written it himself, with Kennedy insisting that he did. McNamara's confidence and self-assurance impressed Kennedy. Kennedy offered McNamara

6248-407: The regular armed forces. Whereas active duty strength had declined from approximately 3,555,000 to 2,483,000 between 1953 (the end of the Korean War ) and 1961, it increased to nearly 2,808,000 by June 30, 1962. Then the forces leveled off at around 2,700,000 until the Vietnam military buildup began in 1965, reaching a peak of nearly 3,550,000 by mid-1968, just after McNamara left office. Kennedy, who

6336-419: The same. McNamara raised the proportion of Strategic Air Command (SAC) strategic bombers on 15-minute ground alert from 25% to 50%, thus lessening their vulnerability to missile attack. He also approved Operation Chrome Dome in 1961, in which some B-52 strategic bomber aircraft armed with thermonuclear weapons remained on continuous airborne alert, flying routes that put them in positions to attack targets in

6424-553: The separate and often uncoordinated service efforts in intelligence and communications, McNamara in 1961 consolidated these functions in the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Defense Communications Agency (the latter originally established by SoD Thomas S. Gates Jr. in 1960), having both report to the Secretary of Defense through the JCS. The end effect was to remove the Intelligence function from

6512-458: The steady erosion of the Free World through limited wars". Kennedy and McNamara rejected massive retaliation for a posture of flexible response . The U.S. wanted choices in an emergency other than "inglorious retreat or unlimited retaliation", as the president put it. Out of a major review of the military challenges confronting the U.S. initiated by McNamara in 1961 came a decision to increase

6600-478: The student body. He then attended Harvard Business School , where he earned an MBA in 1939. Immediately thereafter, McNamara worked for a year at Price Waterhouse , a San Francisco accounting firm. He returned to Harvard in August 1940 to teach accounting in the Business School and became the institution's highest-paid and youngest assistant professor at that time. Following his involvement in

6688-562: The systems analysis office—was a method to study and analyze major defense issues. Sixteen DPMs appeared between 1961 and 1968 on such topics as strategic offensive and defensive forces, NATO strategy and force structure, military assistance, and tactical air forces. OSD sent the DPMs to the services and the Joint Chief of Staff (JCS) for comment; in making decisions, McNamara included in the DPM

6776-411: The top policymaking levels"; "a plan combining both forces and costs which projected into the future the foreseeable implications of current decisions"; and "open and explicit analysis, that is, each analysis should be made available to all interested parties, so that they can examine the calculations, data, and assumptions and retrace the steps leading to the conclusions." In practice, the data produced by

6864-1313: Was a foreign correspondent in Vietnam, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom, and he also served as foreign editor and national editor. Osnos was a regular commentator for National Public Radio 's Morning Edition and co-host of Communiqué . In 1984, he joined Random House , where he worked until 1996 as a senior editor, vice president, and associate publisher, and as publisher of the Times Books division. In 1997, he founded PublicAffairs. He served as Publisher and CEO until 2005 and, then, as Consulting Editor until December 31, 2020. Authors he has published or edited include Jeff Bezos , former President Jimmy Carter , Rosalynn Carter , Sid Caesar , Clark Clifford , former President Bill Clinton , Leonard Downie, Jr. , Paul Farmer , Earvin (Magic) Johnson , Kareem Abdul Jabbar , Sam Donaldson , Kenneth Feinberg , Annette Gordon Reed , Meg Greenfield , Dorothy Height , Don Hewitt , Molly Ivins , Vernon Jordan , Murray Kempton , Wendy Kopp , Charles Krauthammer , Brian Lamb , Jim Lehrer , Scott McClellan , Robert McNamara , Charles Morris, Peggy Noonan , William Novak , former President Barack Obama , former Speaker of

6952-551: Was a nuclear standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union and lasted for 13 days in October 1962. During this time, Robert McNamara was serving as Secretary of Defense and one of John F. Kennedy's trusted advisors. When Kennedy received confirmation of the placement of offensive Soviet missiles in Cuba , he immediately set up the 'Executive Committee', referred to as ' ExComm '. This committee included United States government officials, such as Robert McNamara, advising Kennedy on

7040-492: Was a regular columnist. In February 2012 it was reported that The New York Times would stop carrying the cooperative's content on February 26, and the cooperative would shut down its website soon thereafter, after the Times declined the cooperative's request for additional funding. Peter Osnos Peter L.W. Osnos (born October 13, 1943) is an American journalist and publisher, who founded PublicAffairs Books . Osnos

7128-573: Was born in India to a Jewish refugee family from Warsaw, Poland. He is the son of Joseph Osnos and Marta Osnos, who later settled in New York. Osnos graduated from Brandeis University and the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism . In 1965, Osnos began his journalism career as an editorial assistant to investigative journalist I. F. Stone on his weekly newsletter. From 1966 to 1984, Osnos worked for The Washington Post ; he

7216-572: Was fascinated with counterinsurgency warfare, made a major push to develop the Special Forces , popularly known as the Green Berets. The U.S. Army leadership was, for the most part, strongly opposed to the counterinsurgency vogue, and stoutly resisted the presidential pressure for more counterinsurgency training and forces. The U.S. Army, for reasons of bureaucratic politics, budgetary reasons and sheer pride, wanted to be equipped to fight

7304-613: Was ineffective in the jungles and six planes were not enough. In the spring of 1961 Kennedy seriously considered intervening in Laos where the Communist Pathet Lao, supported by North Vietnam, were winning the civil war. At one point, the Joint Chiefs of Staff advised sending 60,000 U.S. troops into Laos. However, Laos appeared to be a backward, landlocked country with barely any modern roads and only two modern airfields which were both small by Western standards and would have caused logistical problems. Furthermore, memories of

7392-701: Was often in practice ignored resulted in increased costs throughout the system. The Readiness, Information, and Control Tables provided data on specific projects, more detailed than in the FYDP, such as the tables for the Southeast Asia Deployment Plan, which recorded by month and quarter the schedule for deployment, consumption rates, and future projections of U.S. forces in Southeast Asia. McNamara's staff stressed systems analysis as an aid in decision-making on weapon development and many other budget issues. The secretary believed that

7480-583: Was published by The Daily Beast and The Atlantic . From 2017 to 2022, his Platform column was published on Medium. In January 2022, Peter Osnos Platform was launched on Substack. His memoir An Especially Good View: Watching History Happen was published in 2021. He was the editor of a book of biographical essays, titled George Soros: A Life in Full , published in March 2022. In March 2023, he published Would You Believe...The Helsinki Accords Changed

7568-484: Was tailored by the civilians to support decisions that McNamara had already made. The most notable example of systems analysis was the Planning, Programming and Budgeting System (PPBS) instituted by United States Department of Defense Comptroller Charles J. Hitch . McNamara directed Hitch to analyze defense requirements systematically and produce a long-term, program-oriented defense budget. PPBS evolved to become

7656-481: Was the consolidation of programs from different services, most visibly in aircraft acquisition, believing that the redundancy created waste and unnecessary spending. McNamara directed the Air Force to adopt the Navy's McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II and LTV A-7 Corsair II combat aircraft, consolidations that were quite successful, and the success was bidirectional: the Navy would later adopt improvements first made by

7744-597: Was very certain that it would lead to Chinese intervention, concluding that "at some point, we may have to initiate the use of nuclear weapons to prevent the defeat of our forces". Kennedy, who was distrustful of the hawkish advice given by the Joint Chiefs of Staff after the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion , instead decided to seek a diplomatic solution to the Laos crisis at a peace conference in Geneva in 1961–62 that ultimately led to an agreement to make Laos officially neutral in

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