Persian Realm

Left to Right: The Shah of Iran, President Kennedy and US defence secretary Robert McNamara at the White House ( Or Pentagon ?) 1962.

Shah, Kennedy and McNamara assist to Military Manouevers by US Army( Shah smoking next MacNamara with Cup) 1962:

Mr McNamara, who served under presidents John F Kennedy and Lyndon B Johnson, was also an architect of the US policy of nuclear deterrence. After leaving the Pentagon he became president of the World Bank. Before taking up the post as Pentagon chief in 1961, Mr McNamara was the president of Ford Motor Company, turning the company around in the post World War II era.

He is most closely associated with overseeing the involvement of the US in Vietnam from 1961 to 1968. Mr McNamara became to many anti-war critics the symbol of a failed policy that left more than 58,000 US troops dead. Even his son, as a Stanford University student, took part in protests against the war while his father was running it.

However, in his 1995 memoirs In Retrospect: The Tragedies and Lessons of Vietnam, Mr McNamara wrote of his regret over his Vietnam role.

He described the war as "terribly wrong" owing to a combination of the anti-communist climate of the times, mistaken assumptions of foreign policy and military misjudgements.

Related:

Ex-Pentagon chief McNamara dies (BBC)

Obituary: Robert McNamara (BBC)

Robert McNamara commentary on the Cuban missile crisis

Robert McNamara commentary on the Vietnam War:

Conversations with History: Robert S. McNamara interviewed by Harry Kreisler: