The Fog of War

The Fog of War is a documentary about the life of former Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara. This is one of the first times that Secretary McNamara has been so open about his duties as Secretary of Defense and how he carried out that role. The Fog of War was especially interesting for me to watch after having spent a lot of time studying United States history, particularly learning about the 1950s and 1960s. In the accounts that I read and studied of the Cold War and Vietnam War, Secretary McNamara is portrayed as a heartless man who uses his position to thrust himself into a more powerful light. Beginning as Secretary of Defense under President Kennedy and then President Johnson, McNamara is regarded as being the primary player in the United States continued presence and violence in Vietnam in the 1960s.

What is particularly interesting about hearing McNamara describe his position as Secretary of Defense, is being able to brought to a time in history that I have only learned about, but never really understood first hand. That feeling of fear that was so universal during the Cold War is a sentiment that I cannot identify with. The constant anxiety over whether your country is going to be brought down and fearing that this anti-American sentiment is being spread throughout the world. Secretary McNamara seemed to believe that he had no other choice in this Realist world, than to take action into his own hands. In order to protect his country and his citizens, he had to stop the spread of Communism.

I understand that in thought he had the right idea to defend the United States, but in practice it was translated into a (debatably) bloody and violent occupation of another country. The Vietnam War severed as an extreme dividing factor among the American people during the 1960s because they did not believe that it was necessary to invade Vietnam and risk our safety.

The United States was trying to support the non-Communist South Vietnam, as the Communist forces of North Vietnam invaded it. In the process of the war, many American soldiers were killed in Vietnam, as well as many Vietnamese civilians. Many people belief that this war was simply the United States invading Vietnam to assert its power over a weaker country. They intruded Vietnam, where they had no right to be because it was a sovereign state that did not seek the aid of the United States. As a result, thousands of American soldiers and Vietnamese civilians were killed and it became a huge defeat for the United States

In The Fog of War it is incredibly interesting to hear Robert McNamara discuss his “Eleven Lessons of War.” In these eleven lessons, McNamara alludes to many things that he has been accused of and criticized for doing. He says that in war, a country needs to “be prepared to re-examine their reasoning,” know that “there is something beyond one’s self,” and “empathize with your enemy.” He continues to say that the United States should not have carried out war in Vietnam without the support of the entire international community, and the entire American population. This documentary seems to be almost a place for McNamara to admit his faults and the misjudgments that he made while in office.