Robert Strange McNamara

McNamara, Robert Strange (1916– ), secretary of defense under presidents Kennedy and Johnson (1961–68), who played an important part in the shaping of U.S. defense policy, including Vietnam War policy. Before this he had been president of the Ford Motor Company, and in 1968 he became president of the World Bank, serving until 1981. In his book In Retrospect. The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam (1995), he admits that America has made mistakes concerning the war in Vietnam.