‘I Made Mistakes’
Robert McNamara's Vietnam War Policy, 1960–1968

Reconsiders Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara's decisions during the Vietnam War, exposing doubts and questions.

Aurélie Basha i Novosejt (Author)

9781108401555, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 11 March 2021

342 pages
15 x 23 x 2 cm, 0.53 kg

'… [a] fine book …' Dan Hart, H-War

Speaking to an advisor in 1966 about America's escalation of forces in Vietnam, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara confessed: 'We've made mistakes in Vietnam … I've made mistakes. But the mistakes I made are not the ones they say I made'. In 'I Made Mistakes', Aurélie Basha i Novosejt provides a fresh and controversial examination of Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara's decisions during the Vietnam War. Although McNamara is remembered as the architect of the Vietnam War, Novosejt draws on new sources - including the diaries of his advisor and confidant John T. McNaughton - to reveal a man who resisted the war more than most. As Secretary of Defense, he did not want the costs of the war associated with a new international commitment in Vietnam, but he sacrificed these misgivings to instead become the public face of the war out of a sense of loyalty to the President.

List of figures
Acknowledgments
List of abbreviations
Introduction
1. The history of the OSD, 1947–1961
2. Civilian control
3. Continuity and change
4. Taking charge of Vietnam policy
5. When military problems become economic problems
6. The fall of 1963
7. McNamara's transition into the Johnson administration
8. Decisions, indecisions, visions and revisions
9. McNamara in crisis, 1966–1968
Conclusion
Appendix 1: Cast of characters
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Vietnam War [HBWS2], 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW], History of the Americas [HBJK], Asian history [HBJF]