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Conclusion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2019

Aurélie Basha i Novosejt
Affiliation:
University of Kent, Canterbury
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Summary

In many respects, as he confessed later in life, McNamara’s mistakes were mistakes of omission not commission. They were mistakes nonetheless. His mistakes raise important counterfactual questions. What if McNamara had inherited another model for civil-military relations? What if the State Department had been stronger? Could a counterinsurgency strategy have worked in South Vietnam? Could different funding arrangements in Washington have produced different outcomes? What if Johnson had been less of a New Dealer? What if McNamara had defined “loyalty” differently? What would President Kennedy have done?

Type
Chapter
Information
‘I Made Mistakes’
Robert McNamara's Vietnam War Policy, 1960–1968
, pp. 207 - 224
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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  • Conclusion
  • Aurélie Basha i Novosejt, University of Kent, Canterbury
  • Book: ‘I Made Mistakes’
  • Online publication: 26 February 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108234108.011
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  • Conclusion
  • Aurélie Basha i Novosejt, University of Kent, Canterbury
  • Book: ‘I Made Mistakes’
  • Online publication: 26 February 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108234108.011
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Conclusion
  • Aurélie Basha i Novosejt, University of Kent, Canterbury
  • Book: ‘I Made Mistakes’
  • Online publication: 26 February 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108234108.011
Available formats
×