Although Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara is remembered as the architect of the Vietnam War, in this event Aurélie Basha drew on new sources - including the diaries of his advisor and confidant John T. McNaughton - to reveal a man who resisted the war more than most. As Secretary of Defense, he did not want the costs of the war associated with a new international commitment in Vietnam, but he sacrificed these misgivings to instead become the public face of the war out of a sense of loyalty to the President.
Speaking to an advisor in 1966 about America's escalation of forces in Vietnam, McNamara confessed: 'We've made mistakes in Vietnam … I've made mistakes. But the mistakes I made are not the ones they say I made'. In this event to launch her new book, 'I Made Mistakes', Basha provided a fresh and controversial examination of Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara's decisions during the Vietnam War and posed timely questions about the professional and moral responsibilities of civilian decision-makers.
Dr Aurelie Basha (@aureliebasha) completed her undergraduate studies and PhD at the London School of Economics in the International History department and has a Master’s in Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School. She was a Fellow at the London School of Economics and spent several years working in policy and philanthropy, before coming to the School of History at Kent in 2018.
Dr. Kori Schake (@KoriSchake) is the Deputy Director-General of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). She was a distinguished research fellow at the Hoover Institution and is the editor, with Jim Mattis, of the book Warriors and Citizens: American Views of Our Military. She has served in various policy roles including at the White House for the National Security Council; at the Department of Defense for the Office of the Secretary and Joint Chiefs of Staff and the State Department for the Policy Planning Staff. During the 2008 presidential election, she was Senior Policy Advisor on the McCain-Palin campaign. Her recent publications include: Safe Passage: The Transition from British to American Hegemony (Harvard University Press, 2017), Republican Foreign Policy After Trump (Survival, Fall 2016), National Security Challenges for the Next President (Orbis, Winter 2017), and Will Washington Abandon the Order?, (Foreign Affairs, Jan/Feb 2017).
Professor Steven Casey is a specialist in U.S. foreign policy. His books include Cautious Crusade: Franklin D. Roosevelt, American Public Opinion, and the War against Nazi Germany, 1941-1945 (Oxford University Press, 2001; paperback 2004), which explored American attitudes toward Nazi Germany during World War II; Selling the Korean War: Propaganda, Politics, and Public Opinion, 1950-1953 (Oxford University Press, 2008; paperback 2010), which won both the Truman Book Award and the Neustadt Prize for best book in American Politics; and When Soldiers Fall: How Americans have Debated Combat Casualties, from World War I to the War on Terror (Oxford University, 2014) which also won the Neustadt Prize.
This event was held on 7 October 2019.
Image credit: President (1963-1969 : Johnson). White House Photograph Office. 1963-1969 from the National Archives.