Robert S. MacNamara

            The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons in Life from Robert S.
             McNamara was the president of the Ford Motor Company, Secretary of Defense for both the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, and President of the World Bank until 1981. The movie was a documentary about the thoughts, ideals, trials and tribulations of McNamara in his own words. At eighty years old, he's still sharp as a tack. The film takes you through McNamara's life throughout many periods of History. His life as a child at the end of World War I, Air Force Bomber Pilot in World War II, Presidency of Ford Motor Company, and Secretary of Defense under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, (most especially the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Vietnam War), are highlighted throughout the film. Robert McNamara has been a key figure throughout some of the most turbulent time in U.S. history and has come out of it with some life lessons. These lessons are the backbone to his thoughts as these trying times were brought to the screen. The lessons are these: empathize with your enemy, Rationality will not save us, there is something beyond ones self, maximize efficiency, proportionality should be a guideline in war, get the data, belief and seeing are both often wrong, be prepared to re-examine your reasoning, in order to do good you may have to engage in evil, never say never, and you can't change human nature. As of most key figures during times of unrest, McNamara has been scrutinized by many a critic; often he used his philosophy of "Don't answer the question that has been asked of you, instead answer the question you wish had been asked of you." This film gives him the opportunity to show more of his personal thoughts. It gives the public the chance to finally find out what he was thinking. On the brink of nuclear war through one of the bloodiest wars in American history, Robert McNamara has often been looked on as "you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't.