Person

Robert McNamara

Related Excerpts

Robert S. McNamara at a news conference in April 1966

Robert McNamara’s Son Reckons With a Legacy of Destruction

Craig McNamara’s family did not talk about the Vietnam War. He spent his life asking questions about it.
Photographer shooting Henry Kissinger on Air Force One.

Notes From the Front

Henry Kissinger’s Vietnam diary shows that he knew the war was lost a decade before it ended.
Lyndon Johnson with advisors including Robert McNamara and Dean Rusk.
partner

It’s Time for Congress to Wrest Its War-Making Authority Back From the President

If the U.S. government is going to wage unending war, it should at least get the public on its side.
Lyndon Johnson with advisors including Robert McNamara and Dean Rusk.

How the Tet Offensive Undermined American Faith in Government

Fifty years ago, the January 1968 battle laid bare the way U.S. leaders had misled the public about the war in Vietnam.

What the Press and 'The Post' Missed

Leslie Gelb supervised the team that compiled the Pentagon Papers. He explains what Steven Spielberg's new film gets wrong.

The Cuban Missile Crisis at 55

The bullshit, the truth… and Trump.
A soldier on a tank, aiming an M-16 rifle.

M-16: A Bureaucratic Horror Story

Why the rifles jammed.
Filmmaker Oliver Stone speaks to journalists following a hearing with the House Oversight Committee at the US Capitol on April 1, 2025, in Washington, DC.

Oliver Stone Goes to Washington

Legendary filmmaker Oliver Stone says we’re closer than ever to finally piecing together the mystery of November 22, 1963.
Depictions of possible causes of apocalypse through war, disaster, and climate change.

Apocalypse, Constantly

Humans love to imagine their own demise.
Uncle Sam gestureing "Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil,"

How the US Military Ditched Merit

A military consumed by identity politics threatens the integrity of the republic.
Roll of raffle tickets labeled "National Security Priority"

How Everything Became National Security

And national security became everything.
Lieutenant William Calley leaving court with his attorney George Latimer.

Tracking Down Lieutenant Calley

How I learned the story of the My Lai Massacre.
A Buddhist monk stands next to a banner with a picture of monk Thich Quang Duc who set fire to himself to protest the Vietnam War.

Why Would Anyone Kill Themselves to Stop A War?

Two people in the US have recently taken or risked taking their own lives in an attempt to change US policies on Palestine and call for a cease-fire.
Neil Sheehan at New York Times office

How Neil Sheehan Really Got the Pentagon Papers

Exclusive interviews with Daniel Ellsberg and a long-buried memo reveal new details about one of the 20th century's biggest scoops.
Daniel Ellsberg speaking at a press conference, 1972.

Daniel in the Lion's Den

On the moral courage of Daniel Ellsberg.
Daniel Ellsberg speaking to the press.

Daniel Ellsberg’s Life Beyond the Pentagon Papers

After revealing the government’s lies about Vietnam, Ellsberg spent six decades as an anti-nuclear activist, getting arrested in civil-disobedience protests.
Black soldiers in battle.

Double V: Military Racism

Today, the military is perhaps the largest integrated institution in the US. But how it came to be this way reveals a history of racism and resistance.
illustration including "Napalm Girl" photo and photo of the photographer

The View from Here

Fifty years on, Nick Ut’s Pulitzer Prize–winning photograph, “Napalm Girl,” still has the power to shock. But can a picture change the world?
Fort Huachuca in 1894.

The American Maginot Line (Pt. 2)

Exploring the history of U.S. empire through the story of Fort Huachuca – the “Guardian of the Frontier.”
Illustration of microphones and newspaper cutouts

Men in Dark Times

How Hannah Arendt’s fans misread the post-truth presidency.