Robert McNamara Biography and Timeline

Secretary of State for Defence

Appointed Secretary of State for Defence, 1st term

Role range: 1960-1965 – 1960-1963

Cuban Missile Crisis

McNamara discussed military options including surveillance, quarantine, air strikes, and invasion.

Cuban Missile Crisis

McNamara asked military planners to refine blockade, air-strike, and invasion options while the President considered how to respond.

Role range: 1961-1968

Cuban Missile Crisis

McNamara worked on a quarantine plan designed to halt additional offensive weapons without immediately attacking existing missile sites.

Role range: 1961-1968

Cuban Missile Crisis

McNamara organized the naval interception plan and continued preparations for air strikes and invasion.

Cuban Missile Crisis

McNamara briefed Kennedy on naval interception procedures and the military preparations supporting the proposed quarantine.

Role range: 1961-1968

Cuban Missile Crisis

McNamara reviewed rules governing interception, inspection, and possible seizure of vessels carrying prohibited military equipment.

Role range: 1961-1968

Cuban Missile Crisis

McNamara closely supervised naval operations as the quarantine line became active in the Atlantic approaches to Cuba.

Role range: 1961-1968

Cuban Missile Crisis

McNamara argued against automatic retaliation after the loss of Rudolf Anderson's U-2, helping preserve time for negotiation.

Role range: 1961-1968

Cuban Missile Crisis

McNamara directed the military to maintain pressure and surveillance while Soviet forces began preparing the missiles for removal.

Role range: 1961-1968

Cuban Missile Crisis

McNamara oversaw the military transition from quarantine operations after the remaining Soviet IL-28 bombers were scheduled for withdrawal.

Role range: 1961-1968

Vietnam Assessment

Directs Pentagon assessments of the expanding advisory war

Role range: 1960-1975 – 1961-1968

Secretary of State for Defence

Appointed Secretary of State for Defence, 2nd term

Role range: 1961-1969 – 1963-1967

Attack Report to President

McNamara informed Johnson that reports indicated the destroyers were under torpedo attack and advised him that the Defense Department was preparing possible retaliatory measures.

Role range: 1960-1975 – 1961-1968

Retaliation Options Prepared

McNamara developed several limited strike options against patrol boats, naval bases, petroleum facilities, bridges, and other targets as the administration considered its response.

Role range: 1960-1975 – 1961-1968

Pierce Arrow Press Briefing

McNamara announced that carrier aircraft had flown dozens of strike sorties against North Vietnamese naval bases and petroleum storage facilities in retaliation for the reported Tonkin attacks.

Role range: 1960-1975 – 1961-1968

Tonkin Evidence Testimony

McNamara testified before a joint Senate hearing about the naval reports from 2 and 4 August and supported the administration's request for broad authority in Southeast Asia.

Role range: 1960-1975 – 1961-1968

Tonkin Resolution

Defends administration policy during passage of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

Role range: 1960-1975 – 1961-1968

September Tonkin Evidence Review

McNamara reviewed radar reports, eyewitness claims, and intercepted communications concerning a new Gulf alarm while senior officials debated whether the evidence justified another military response.

Role range: 1960-1975 – 1961-1968

Mobilization

Asks SAC to improve its capabilities for limited war

Role range: 1960-1975 – 1963-1967

Memo

NSA Bundy & Defence SecretaryMcNamara send a memo to Johnson stating Americas military involvement is Vietnam failing. Bundy & McNamara advise Johnson the US has reached a fork in the road in Vietnam & must either soon escalate or withdraw

Role range: 1960-1975 – 1963-1967

Bombing of Vietnam

McNamara & Westmorland agree to use B52s for conventional bombing in South Vietnam

Role range: 1960-1975 – 1963-1967

Mobilization

Reccommends to Johnson a diluted version of Bundys "just right" option

Role range: 1960-1975 – 1963-1967

Mobilization

Vance & McNanamara advise against accepting the JCS proposals for further forces

Role range: 1960-1975 – 1963-1967

Vietnam Study Commissioned

McNamara commissions a secret historical study of United States involvement in Vietnam from 1945 through 1967.

Role range: 1960-1975 – 1961-1968

Vietnam Study Leadership Appointments

McNamara appoints John McNaughton, Morton Halperin and Leslie Gelb to lead the Defense Department history project.

Role range: 1960-1975 – 1961-1968

Vietnam Study Scope

McNamara directs the task force to examine political and military decision-making across successive administrations.

Role range: 1960-1975 – 1961-1968

Pentagon Papers

Instead of using existing Defense Department historians, McNamara assigned his close aide and Assistant Secretary of Defense John T. McNaughton to collect the papers. McNaughton died in an air accident one month after work began in June 1967, but the project continued under the direction of Defense Department official Leslie H. Gelb

Role range: 1960-1975 – 1963-1967

Bombing of Vietnam

The Stennis Committee defends restricted bombing in North Vietnam. Says only annhilation can break the will of the north Vietnamese

Role range: 1960-1975 – 1963-1967

Resignation Announced

Announces he will leave the Defense Department amid doubts about the war

Role range: 1960-1975 – 1961-1968

Government

Resigns after Johnson ignores his advice to stop bombing Vietnam

Role range: 1961-1969 – 1963-1967

Resignation of Robert McNamara

Resigns after Johnson ignores his advice to stop bombing Vietnam

Role range: 1961-1969 – 1963-1967

Thirty-Six Analyst Study

The project commissioned by McNamara develops into an eighteen-month study involving thirty-six professional analysts.

Role range: 1960-1975 – 1961-1968

Top Secret Vietnam History

McNamara's historical project is conducted as a highly classified Defense Department study later known as the Pentagon Papers.

Role range: 1960-1975 – 1961-1968

Vietnam Study Archival Research

McNamara authorizes a study based heavily on classified records from the Defense Department, State Department and intelligence agencies.

Role range: 1960-1975 – 1961-1968

Pentagon Papers

Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara created the Vietnam Study Task Force on June 17, 1967, for the purpose of writing an "encyclopedic history of the Vietnam War". McNamara claimed that he wanted to leave a written record for historians, to prevent policy errors in future administrations

Role range: 1960-1975 – 1963-1967

Operation Arc Light

McNamara approves a sortie rate of 1,200 effective from 1st Feb

Role range: 1960-1975 – 1963-1967

Closed Testimony on Tonkin

McNamara gave closed testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the confirmed 2 August attack and the disputed reports of a second attack on 4 August 1964.

Role range: 1960-1975 – 1961-1968

Pentagon Papers

McNamara neglected to inform either President Lyndon Johnson or Secretary of State Dean Rusk about the study. One report claimed that McNamara planned to give the work to his friend Robert F. Kennedy, who sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1968. McNamara later denied this, although he admitted that he should have informed Johnson and Rusk

Role range: 1960-1975

Pentagon Papers

It was classified Top Secret-Sensitive, although Sensitive was not an official classification and only indicated that access should be controlled.

Role range: 1960-1975