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Film Analysis: The Fog Of The Vietnam War

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Robert S. McNamara was the most influential defense secretary of the 20th century. Serving under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, he oversaw hundreds of military missions, thousands of nuclear weapons and billions of dollars in military spending. McNamara was involved in almost every war in the 20th century. His years of experience have brought upon many challenges, many American’s believe that McNamara was singlehandedly responsible for the devastation and loss of the Vietnam war. In 1995, he took a stand against his own conduct in that war, confessing that it was “wrong, terribly wrong.” In Errol Morris’s 2003 documentary, The Fog of War, McNamara shares the eleven lesson that helped shape his role and crucial impact in these wars. I am going to explore the 4 lessons that I believe had the most considerable effect on war and peace. …show more content…
McNamara emphasized this rule several times and kept returning to this theme throughout the documentary. His key example was during the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, when Tommy Thompson, a former U.S. ambassador to the U.S.S.R, pointedly disagreed with President Kennedy in a pivotal Cabinet meeting, by advising that Nikita Khrushchev would most likely take a deal and avert the crisis if he was able to portray his actions as having stopped the U.S. from invading Cuba in addition to a withdrawal of U.S. missiles from Turkey. That is, because Thompson knew the Kremlin fairly well, through empathizing with him, and observing the situation from the Kremlin’s perspective, he was able to foresee a resolution of the crisis which benefitted both parties. In contrast, McNamara admitted that, in Vietnam, no such empathy took place. To step into your enemies’ skin is an important quality, crucial in decision making. It allows for one to view both his own perspective as well as that of his adversary, doing so could allow for peace through resolution, or in turn a powerful counter

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