Book contents
- “I Made Mistakes”
- Cambridge Studies in US Foreign Relations
- “I Made Mistakes”
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 The History of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, 1947–1961
- 2 Civilian Control
- 3 Continuity and Change
- 4 Taking Charge of Vietnam Policy
- 5 When Military Problems Become Economic Problems
- 6 The Fall of 1963
- 7 McNamara’s Transition into the Johnson Administration
- 8 Decisions, Indecisions, Visions and Revisions
- 9 McNamara in Crisis, 1966–1968
- Conclusion
- Appendix: Cast of Characters
- Endnotes
- Bibliography
- Index
3 - Continuity and Change
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 February 2019
- “I Made Mistakes”
- Cambridge Studies in US Foreign Relations
- “I Made Mistakes”
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 The History of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, 1947–1961
- 2 Civilian Control
- 3 Continuity and Change
- 4 Taking Charge of Vietnam Policy
- 5 When Military Problems Become Economic Problems
- 6 The Fall of 1963
- 7 McNamara’s Transition into the Johnson Administration
- 8 Decisions, Indecisions, Visions and Revisions
- 9 McNamara in Crisis, 1966–1968
- Conclusion
- Appendix: Cast of Characters
- Endnotes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
President John F. Kennedy was elected on a program of change. Despite his electoral rhetoric, in office, he was cautious and fiscally conservative. He felt especially vulnerable on economic issues with a nagging balance of payments deficit that threatened the role of the dollar in the international monetary system. He chose Republicans for the two agencies that had the greatest bearing on the balance of payments: C. Douglas Dillon as Secretary of the Treasury and McNamara as Secretary of Defense. At the same time, Kennedy’s interest in the developing world was different from his predecessors’ and led him to experiment with new ways of projecting US power internationally, including through building up local capabilities to fight “wars of national liberation.” His national security bureaucracy changed accordingly with the creation of a Special Group on Counterinsurgency, the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the Peace Corps and with a renewed focus on the US Army’s Special Forces.
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- Information
- ‘I Made Mistakes’Robert McNamara's Vietnam War Policy, 1960–1968, pp. 57 - 73Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019