|
|
Article: McNamara's mind and hubris.(Local)
- Article from:
- The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, VA)
- Article date:
- July 10, 2009
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 The Virginian Pilot-Ledger Star. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of the Dialog Corporation by Gale Group. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
THE DEATH of Robert McNamara at 93 was less a faint reverberation of a receding era than a reminder that mentalities are the defining attributes of eras, and certain American mentalities recur with, it sometimes seems, metronomic regularity.
McNamara came to Washington from a robust Detroit -- he headed Ford when America's swaggering car manufacturers enjoyed 90 percent market share -- to be President John Kennedy's secretary of defense. Seemingly confident that managing the competition of nations could be as orderly as managing competition among the Big 3 in Detroit , McNamara entered government seven months before the birth of the current president, who is the ...