The Hindu : Opinion / Letters to the Editor : Robert McNamara

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Thursday, Jul 09, 2009
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Robert McNamara

Some names are etched in our memory, even though we do not know much about those bearing them. Robert McNamara’s name is one of them. The news of his death and a rather unusual obituary by Pranay Gupte (“Evaluating McNamara,” July 7), provided an insight into the life of the strange man and his personality. By choosing not to eulogise a deceased person, Mr. Gupte has been true to himself. He has rightly pointed out that McNamara was, through his role as World Bank president, “trying to expunge his [Vietnam] war days from his conscience.”

At this point of time in history, when the world is coming home to the devastating impact of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, McNamara’s misadventures in Vietnam need to be cited again and again so that people in power realise the folly of war.

Saurabh Sinha,

Bhilai

Describing McNamara as “Bomber Bob” and holding him responsible for the U.S. fiasco in Vietnam is unfair. McNamara’s fault was that he tried to use his quantitative (quants) prowess to analyse military strategy and policy options in Indochina and chose the optimal strategy approach. History is replete with instances in which leaders have used their gut feeling and intuition in similar situations with more disastrous results. In spite of the failure of quants in the Indochina War, military strategists and policy analysts have wholeheartedly embraced their use.

T.S. Rangarajan,

Chennai

Like the invasion of Iraq, the Vietnam War too was America’s misadventure. Years after the end of the war, McNamara said: “I do not know to this day whether I quit or was fired [from the post of Defence Secretary].” In his book In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam, McNamara revealed that “we sought to do the right thing ... but in my judgment hindsight proved us wrong.”

M. Somasekhar Prasad,

Badvel

In the passing of McNamara, the world has lost a humanist and champion of developing countries. As World Bank president, he said: “We cannot allow the fundamental task of developing the undeveloped nations of this planet to fail for lack of resources …” He made it a point to visit centres like Barefoot College in Tilonia, Rajasthan. I had the privilege of receiving a couple of letters from him on development projects in the 1970s.

A. Jagadeesh,

Nellore

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