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Robert McNamara
Sign in to saveAlso known as McNamara, Robert Strange McNamara, Robert S. McNamara
American businessman and Secretary of Defense (1916-2009)
Robert McNamara was an American businessman who served as Secretary of Defense under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson during the Cold War and Vietnam War era. His tenure matters historically because he significantly shaped U.S. military policy and strategy during some of the most consequential and controversial periods of the 20th century.
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Film & TV
San Francisco, California, USA
Robert Strange McNamara (June 9, 1916 – July 6, 2009) was an American business executive and the eighth United States Secretary of Defense, serving from 1961 to 1968 under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.
Known for
- Turning Point: The Vietnam War — Self (Archive Footage)2025
- The Lies That Led America To War In Vietnam — Himself (archive footage)2023
- Laboratory Greece — Self (archive footage)2019
- Bobby Kennedy for President — Self (archive footage)2018
- The Vietnam War — Self - Politician (archive footage)2017
- The Man Nobody Knew: In Search of My Father, CIA Spymaster William Colby — Self - Secretary of Defense (voice) (archive footage)2011
- The Most Dangerous Man in America — Self (archive footage)2009
- U.S. Strategic Nuclear Policy — Self2005
- No Fighting in the War Room Or: 'Dr Strangelove' and the Nuclear Threat — Self2004
- The Fog of War — Self2003
via TMDB
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- United States
- Place of birth
- San Francisco
- Place of death
- Washington, D.C.
- Occupation
- military personnel
- Position held
- President of the World Bank Group
- Educated at
- Harvard Business School
- Employer
- Ford Motor Company
- Political party
- Republican Party (United States)
- Languages spoken
- English language
- Religion
- Presbyterianism
- Conflict
- World War II
- Military rank
- Lieutenant Colonel
- Image
- Robert McNamara at a cabinet meeting, 22 Nov 1967.jpg
Show 10 more facts
- member of
- American Philosophical Society
- Commons category
- Robert McNamara
- date of death
- 2009-07-06
- date of birth
- 1916-06-09
- Commons gallery
- Robert McNamara
- place of burial
- Arlington National Cemetery
- start of work period
- 1943-00-00
- name in native language
- Robert Strange McNamara
- writing language
- English language
- P12749
- Juncus trifidus
Sources (11)
via Wikidata · CC0
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Encyclopedic overview
Robert Strange McNamara (/ˈmæknəˌmærə/; June 9, 1916 – July 6, 2009), also known by his initials RSM, was an American businessman and government official who served as the eighth United States secretary of defense from 1961 to 1968 under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson at the height of the Cold War. He remains the longest-serving secretary of defense, having remained in office over seven years . He played a major role in promoting the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. McNamara was responsible for the institution of systems analysis in public policy, which developed into the discipline known today as policy analysis.
McNamara graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, and Harvard Business School. He served in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. After World War II, Henry Ford II hired McNamara and a group of other Army Air Force veterans to work for the Ford Motor Company, reforming Ford with modern planning, organization, and management control systems. After briefly serving as Ford's president, McNamara accepted an appointment as secretary of defense in the Kennedy administration.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Robert McNamara” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.