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[recounting the end of the Cuban Missile Crisis]
Robert McNamara: My deputy and I brought the Five Chiefs
[joint Chiefs of Staff]
Robert McNamara: over and we sat down with Kennedy.
Robert McNamara: And he said, "Gentlemen, we won. I don't want you ever to say it, but you know we won, I know we won."
Robert McNamara: [General Curtis] LeMay said, "Won hell... we lost... we should go in and... wipe 'em out today."
[McNamara laughs]
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[from the Epilogue]
Interviewer: After you left the Johnson administration, why didn't you speak out against the Vietnam War?
Robert McNamara: I'm not going to say any more than I have. These are the kinds of questions that get me into trouble. You don't know what I know about how inflammatory my words can appear. A lot of people misunderstand the war, misunderstand me. A lot of people think I'm a son of a bitch.
Errol Morris
Extended Reading
