I watched this movie last night... I've been meaning to see it since it came out, but never got around to it.

If you haven't heard of it, basically, its Robert MacNamara recounting the events of his tenure in the Army/Air Force, as Pres of Ford and as Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam War. Using hindsight, he tries to come up with lessons and learn from his past mistakes.

I think it really shed some light on the ethical dillemas of international relations in the last 60 years or so. The highlights for me were when, decades after the conflicts, he met with his adversaries (Castro, for example), and realized just how wrong he was about the event. Some lessons could be extremely useful in today's foreign relations standpoint.

I definitely recommend it for anyone who can tolerate documentaries, or with an interest in modern history or IR.

:thumbup:

 

Did they have a part in this film where they contrast 1950s McNamara advocating the then-US policy of "Nuclear escalation" versus 1970s McNamara talking about how stupid "Nuclear Escalation" was?

If so, I think I watched this in one of my history courses at CU.

 

I dont' think so, this movie came out like 1 or 2 years ago (you gradumatated a while ago, right?)... but it definitely touches on the subject.




One of the most terrible parts was when he was talking about the firebombing campaigns in Japan and equating the damage to US cities. The quote was something along the lines of, "if we lost that war, we would have stood trial for crimes against humanity." Which, of course begs the question of whether winning or losing has anything to do with ethics.

 

i love the game god of war

 

Yeah, I graduated in '03, so probably not the same one. But my major was history, with a military/WW2 focus. McNamara was kind of an idiot when he was actually running things, but from about 1980 onwards he seemed to develop pretty rational ideas and regretted much of the policies he had developed and implemented in previous decades. It's a damn shame that he didn't come around until after he was largely out of the political arena.

 

History major too h: Yeah, he pretty much all but states that the US had no business in Vietnam and the war was a gigantic mistake. I don't think idiotic is really the right word to describe his policies, but mis-informed for sure, and a bit less than thoroughly thought out. Sounds familiar h: