mcnamara's view, which we did. after we worked him over , which was kennedy said the price of getting out is lower than the price of staying in and ending up in another big war in asia. i don't think it is worth it. the u.s. can endure whatever people say about leaving. i think the hope was it would be a negotiated settlement. that is what mcnamara favored all along. it never happened. there were negotiations but they were really for the american defeat. by the time 1973 came around. the point is that when he looked very closelykennedy's character, kennedy was cool, hard to parse in the sense that people thought he was charming and nice-looking in all of these other things. mcnamara believed that he was tougher than people understood. when he came to what he thought was in the national interest. johnson came along and his passions were profound on domestic policy. i think that comes through very clearly in johnson's work. he did the civil rights act, the war on poverty, and when you listen to what johnson said, you

mcnamara is supporting the war.hen you go deeply into what they were saying, you find it is much more complicated. mcnamara was never going to be forgiven. he was so deeply involved. i think by the time he died in 2009, in his own mind he was at least better understood. what i have tried to do in this narrative is show how that came about. how mcnamara came to terms over the years he was secretary of defense. he did not have a way to change it. i will tell you one of the more amazing insights. february 11, 1965, just after johnson was inaugurated after he won a landslide victory over barry goldwater, lady bird johnson wrote in her book, i heard him say something today that i thought he would only say to me. he said to hubert humphrey, his vice president, i am not qualified to be commander-in-chief. i find sending these boys over there to fight and die so difficult. that was exactly the time when he was initiated -- initiating the first marines to land on the mainland in vietnam and begin the bombing campaign. think

a two word answer robert mcnamara.if you read mcnamara's where he puts blame on failure whenever except himself, his bottom line was basically i was badly briefed. i was not properly about how weak the vietnamese were, about how courageous the north in one thing and another. and my going back to the story i told you earlier is, you know, mr. secretary, you had ed lansdale sitting the pentagon, 61, 62, and you never listened to him. he was right there. but going back to my dad's, the way lansdale thought and acted, you know what? didn't i still do in philippines again? in vietnam, he got out he went and he went talk to villagers, right? he got out there for mcnamara it sort of i guess one might even say not comprehend not just incompetence. just wouldn't you wouldn't think i wouldn't go there. so so if if lance and i met lansdale in saigon was passing through, going back to thailand in, 66 spent a day or two with him. he was an advisor, i think, to cabot lodge was lodge the ambassador in 66. and and he had a little team

conor mcnamara was watching at old trafford.es into the post—erik ten hag era now at old trafford, and manchester united are hoping that they are a team that's turning a corner, unbeaten in all three matches — and ruud van nistelrooy, who stepped in under tricky circumstances, has certainly steadied the ship. new boss ruben amorim will be looking on from afar — he'll be impressed with amad diallo, who scored two goals to win the game tonight, the second of them was a particularly impressive goal. not the tallest and build or stature, but he's deceptively strong, amad, holding off two burly defenders to create the space to have his shot from distance. it was a perfect finish on what was a perfect night for him. there's one more game under van nistelrooy for manchester united — they host leicester in the premier league at the weekend, then this will become the ruben amorim show. manchester united fans have got smiles back on their faces — we haven't said that in a while — and these could be exciting times to come in the coming wee

conor mcnamara and izzy christiansen are at old trafford ahead of the game, which kicks off at 8pm. are arriving here into old trafford i had of two nights game against manchester united, second to last game before the arrival of ruben amorim, and the expectancy every day is rising another notch, the victory for sporting lisbon against mencius the city has manchester united friends not waiting until he gets there. it looks like christmas comes early for manchester united fans, you can feel the excited _ manchester united fans, you can feel the excited outside the stadium, there _ the excited outside the stadium, there looks to be a real charisma around _ there looks to be a real charisma around ruben amorim, and that is but the excitement for fans, but tonight they have _ the excitement for fans, but tonight they have to get three points on the board _ they have to get three points on the board in_ they have to get three points on the board in the europa league and claim of the _ board in the europa league and claim of the table. board in the europa league and claim of the table-— o

robert mcnamara, kennedy's defence secretary, and johnson's for a long _ secretary, and johnson's for a huge corporation, they have a bil huge corporation, they have a big background in very senior academic— big background in very senior academicjob, very seniorjob academic job, very senior job in academicjob, very seniorjob in congress. these people, they are hot— in congress. these people, they are not big — in congress. these people, they are not big figures. in some of the big — are not big figures. in some of the big departments like intelligence and defence, you are working alongside people with huge experience, big brains. _ with huge experience, big brains, and you need people who are equal— brains, and you need people who are equal to them. and the rest of the _ are equal to them. and the rest of the world and much of the world — of the world and much of the world including britain, we are hugely— world including britain, we are hugely dependent on american defence, we are members of nato, — defence, we are members of nato, much of the world depends on america to act as the p

speaking, our presidents have selected either somebody who has managed a company, for example, robert mcnamara, or a has spent perhaps some time at a lower level in the pentagon. there's a third category of people. those are people who have been on the committees in congress that have dealt with military matters. generally, the three buckets you might choose someone from. in the case of mr. hegseth, he has an historic military background but he the managerial experience. nor would one call him a defense intellectual. nor has he been elected to congress to think about military affairs. so he's an unusual choice, to put it mildly. keep in mind, presidents usually get the people they choose and donald trump has a mandate to shape the pentagon as he wishes. >> so those are some of the folks we expect he may be having around him. there is also the influence of the family. it seemed like during trump's first term, it was ivanka trump who was, perhaps, the favored child. she had an office. now it seems like it is donald trump jr. who has ascended to this prominent position. how do you see his role in

five decades, 16 secretary of states of defense going back even before i was a reporter, robert mcnamara. and they have to know management. they have to know what the responsibility is, they have to know where the levers of power are. and in this appointee, i see none of that. now, you have to ask yourself, why wouldn't trump want somebody who at least has some experience? he is trying to re-create the imperial presidency. he is trying to say, ah. i can do whatever i want. it's up to me alone. >> and he doesn't want them to have the power. >> he doesn't want to share it. >> he doesn't want to share it. i hope people listen to what you just said about what you need for that job. you also talk in your book about you have the story about director of -- the former director of the national intelligence dan coats and you say, quote. >> two and a half years he was there. >> two and a half years. quote. this stuck out to me so much because we fast forward to today and trump has nominated someone who has been an apolicy -- what does having gabbard in that job concern you? >> what is the goal? wha

many of the buildings used as hospitals, some of them are marked today including mcnamara hall, which is now a sweetshop you eycan go get donuts in thehospital there . the only civil war trailside in downtown sheperdstown has a role as a hospital in september 1862. as the sheperdstown newspaper put it in talking about the process of decorating these confederate soldiers graves every june they said as long as written accounts are preserved as an integral part of our town's heritage will be remembered. and the sheperdstown civilians never forget what mary mitchell described as the town's most y trying and tempestuous week of the war. thank you very much and if we have time i will be able to answer any questions [applause back applause] one way in back there, mike skelton. >> do you think people moved away from sheperdstown after the wounded started going to their town because of the stress and pressure to help? >> there was certainly some of that. some civilians did try to get out of town even before the town was taken over and used as a hospital to get away and they had no idea the aar

one of the early meetings i think it's 1960 where the military is decided and this is even before mcnamara becomes secretary defense, that they need to have a single operation plan psyop for nuclear war there. and you bring us into a meeting i know this. i'd never seen this. one of the participant took which which then reveal what he was thinking as this plan is laid out. can you talk about. absolutely and how you got your hands on your notes? you're about john rubel and, you know, the nuclear plans are among the most jealously guarded secrets. absolutely. in the national security apparatus. bar none, right. they just don't want to know. and then parallel to that, very sick brit idea is, the fact that no one would break ranks. right. so you've got issues, security clearances and you've also got issues of culture. right. it would just be, you know, abominable to break ranks. well, john rubel did in a tiny memoir i mean, it's so thin and was published in 2007 or 2008. and because as america was in the middle of the war on terror, this got almost no notice. and that is what that from so those

director of the reagan movie sean mcnamara and his son seamus, who has a birthday today. let's give a hand to seamus. moore. broadly, there are several members of the reagan movies cast and crew in the audience. let's give them all a big hand of a. we are in for a very special evening from small town roots to the glitter of hollywood and then on to commanding the world. the reagan movie is a cinematic journey of a man overcoming the odds exercise. tremendous leadership and achieving remarkable results. america's 40th president. the story told through the voice of victor petrovich, a former kgb agent whose life becomes inextricably linked with ronald reagan's. when reagan first caught the soviets attention. as an actor in hollywood, the movie was not reagan foundation project. however, we are really excited to have a converse with members of the cast and play a handful of clips from the film. in a moment we're going to be joined on stage by the following four cast members. i ask that you please hold your applause until they join us on stage. so first, of course, is dennis

new research, probably the most interesting development since that time was that robert mcnamara, who is the secretary of defense when the us gets in, publishes a book called in retrospect and he actually echoes most of the arguments the orthodox school which comes as a surprise to a lot of people american veterans tend to be furious at him and he's applauded by those who oppose war. he does, should note, try to do so while, avoiding taking personal responsibility for all of these messes, which him even more contrary character to the more orthodox school historians. nowadays. many of them will say that essentially the big issues of the war have been decided by historians, which they don't tend to mean themselves and therefore we don't really need to spend a whole lot more time on these big. we can delve further niche topics. they will if you press them further. sometimes argue that we very distinguished history who have really written the defining books this subject and which i think is not a very satisfactory answer. so if i asked you to defend a position on a controversial subject,

one of the early meetings i think it's 1960 where the military is decided and this is even before mcnamara becomes secretary defense, that they need to have a single operation plan psyop for nuclear war there. and you bring us into a meeting i know this. i'd never seen this. one of the participant took which which then reveal what he was thinking as this plan is laid out. can you talk about. absolutely and how you got your hands on your notes? you're about john rubel and, you know, the nuclear plans are among the most jealously guarded secrets. absolutely. in the national security apparatus. bar none, right. they just don't want to know. and then parallel to that, very sick brit idea is, the fact that no one would break ranks. right. so you've got issues, security clearances and you've also got issues of culture. right. it would just be, you know, abominable to break ranks. well, john rubel did in a tiny memoir i mean, it's so thin and was published in 2007 or 2008. and because as america was in the middle of the war on terror, this got almost no notice. and that is what that from so those