McNamara makes a point of explaining what is essential and what occurred. He makes a point of specific details such as his learning the news at the Pentagon at 2 p.m., almost 90 full minutes after the president was shot (1). He reminds us gently that he is with Bundy at the Pentagon (1). Equally gently, he tells us that he continues with the meeting, a fairly routine budget discussion. He is equally tactful in pointing out that the August 24, 1963 cable was a mistake, but the mistake was not caused by the young assistant Hilsman or Forrestal and it was unquestionably Bundy's fault (1). In essence, this is McNamara's way of exposing Bundy and Bundy's successful sabotage of JFK's Vietnam strategy. He makes a very clear point of establishing the truth that Kennedy's position on Vietnam and the difference between National Security Action Memorandum 263 and 273. He therefore establishes the truth at the expense of the Pentagon Papers and their manifold misrepresentations: JFK had given clear and absolute orders to exit Vietnam.
Most importantly, without using highly precise descriptions of actions that would be defined as "treason" or "sabotage," McNamara would record history. On page 69, he is most precise. This is where McNamara reveals how Hilsman on September 27, 1963, via Michael Forrestal, sent a handwritten note to Lodge. The content of this letter is a clear violation of JFK's specific orders. Hence, McNamara exposes the treachery by Hilsman, Forrestal and of course, because Bundy is their boss, Bundy. McNamara skillfully disengages himself from the decisions made in Honolulu on November 20, 1963. On page 85, he makes a reference to Honolulu where he says, "I remember nothing specific about Honolulu, but I remember and I know who remembers Honolulu well - Bundy." This is McNamara's way of saying Bundy was responsible for the fateful decisions, most likely a reference to the coup d'état and assassination that was finalized in Honolulu.
It is impossible not to inhale McNamara's wisdom or not marvel at his healing voice and the core message that he conveys: "We should march forward wiser and more humble after Vietnam and after the loss of a great American president with a beautiful and realistic peaceful vision of the world."
I say thank you Mr. McNamara and that is why I nominate him for a peace award.
References
1. Robert S. McNamara, "In Retrospect," Vintage Books, 1996.
2. L. Fletcher Prouty, "JFK and the CIA," Citadel Press, 1996.
3. James Fetzer, "Murder at Dealey Plaza," Catfeet Press, 2000.
4. James Douglass, "JFK and the Unspeakable," Orbis Press, 2008.
5. Richard Trask, "Pictures of the Pain," Yeoman Press, 1994.
6. Kai Bird, "The Color of Truth," Simon and Schuster, 2008.
7. David Talbot, "Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years," Free Press, 2007.
8. John Prados, "The White House Tapes," The New Press and American Voice Radio, 2003.
[1]Operation Big Lift, largest peacetime airlift in our history. Operation Big Lift moved an entire combat division from Texas to Germany for 30 days' intensive training. On the day President Kennedy was killed, the last third of the returning troops were in the air over the United States at the time of the shooting in Dallas.
Here was a combat force, estimated to be a brigade combat team in the air armed with personal weapons which could have been deployed into action anywhere in the nation on very short notice.
