McNamara at War

A New History

By: Philip Taubman, William Taubman

Narrated by: David Colacci

A revelatory portrait of Robert S. McNamara, informed by newly discovered diaries, letters, and interviews with those closest to him.

Robert S. McNamara was widely considered to be one of the most brilliant men of his generation. While he could be cold and arrogant, he was an invaluable friend to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson as US secretary of defense and had a deeply moving relationship with Jackie Kennedy. McNamara was the leading advocate for American escalation in Vietnam during the summer of 1965, strongly urging Johnson to send hundreds of thousands of American ground troops just weeks before he concluded that the war was unwinnable. For the next two and a half years, despite his doubts, he failed to urge Johnson to cut his losses and withdraw.

In McNamara at War, Philip and William Taubman examine McNamara’s life of intense personal contradictions. They trace his career from a young faculty member at Harvard Business School and his World War II service to his leadership of the Ford Motor Company and the World Bank. McNamara at War is a portrait of a man at war with himself―riven by melancholy, guilt, zealous loyalty, and a profound inability to admit his flawed thinking about Vietnam before it was too late.

©2025 Philip Taubman and William Taubman (P)2025 Recorded Books

Excellent History

This is a very well done history of the history of the Vietnam war and subsequent results. McNamara's life is no holds back.

fascinating

mcnamara was a brilliant but tragic figure.
if only the people running the government now were as thoughtful as the latter-day Mcnamara.

Not Bad, but Deceptively Titled

From the title you might think you'd be getting a blow by blow of MacNamara's involvement in the Vietnam war, but you don't. This is much more like a conventional biography, with a staggering amount of personal details. You will come away from this with a deeper understanding of what the man was actually like, but MacNamara-Vietnam has been dealt with far more comprehensively in other books.

eye opening

This is a well-written account of McNamara's hard-driving, execution-focused but ultimately self-destructive psychology shaping key decisions in the Vietnam
war. The new documents recently discovered by the authors (letters, diaries etc.) shed light on the important role Jackie Kennedy played in McNamara's growing self-awareness of the illegitimacy of the war, its course and impact on US, Vietnam and beyond. The authors leave it up to the reader to determine the degree of intimacy between McNamara and Jackie but many quotes from their mutual letters makes one wonder.

It was touching to read about McNamara's subsequent repentance and attempts to atone for his perceived sins in later life. Leaders in our time - take note - admitting past mistakes is a rare strength.

It’s fine, title is misleading

For a book titled “McNamara at War” it is surprisingly light in its examination or recounting of McNamara’s conduct in directing the Vietnam War. It’s just a normal biography though, not something especially focused on his role in Vietnam. Bad title