In my seven years as Secretary, we came within a hair's breadth of war with the Soviet Union on three different occasions! Twenty-four hours a day, three-hundred sixty-five days a year, for seven years as Secretary of Defense, I lived… — Robert McNamara Copy Share Image
I want to say, and this is very important: at the end we lucked out. It was luck that prevented nuclear war. We came that close to nuclear war at the end. Rational individuals: Kennedy was rational; Khrushchev was rational;… — Robert McNamara Copy Share Image
There is no more important task in a democracy than resolving the differences among people and finding a course of action that will be… — Robert McNamara Copy Share Image
[General Curtis] LeMay recognized that what he was doing would be thought immoral if his side has lost. But what makes it immoral if… — Robert McNamara Copy Share Image
They'll be no learning period with nuclear weapons. Make one mistake and you're going to destroy nations. — Robert McNamara Copy Share Image
It was a perfectly beautiful night, as fall nights are in Washington. I walked out of the president's Oval Office, and as I walked… — Robert McNamara Copy Share Image
It would be our policy to use nuclear weapons wherever we felt it necessary to protect our forces and achieve our objectives. — Robert McNamara Copy Share Image
One must take draconian measures of demographic reduction against the will of the populations. Reducing the birth rate has proved to be impossible or… — Robert McNamara Copy Share Image
Measure what is important, don't make important what you can measure — Robert McNamara Copy Share Image
All those involved in the firebombing of Tokyo .. were war criminals interviews recorded in the movie The Fog of War.. the firebombing of… — Robert McNamara Copy Share Image
Lesson 2: The indefinite combination of human fallibility and nuclear weapons will lead to the destruction of nations. — Robert McNamara Copy Share Image
...but highly placed sources within the Kennedy Administration disagreed: "[T]he assumption that the strategic nuclear balance mattered in any way was wrong... As far… — Robert McNamara Copy Share Image
We burned to death 100,000 Japanese civilians in Tokyo - men, women and children. LeMay recognized that what he was doing would be thought… — Robert McNamara Copy Share Image
![“[General Curtis] LeMay recognized that what he was doing would be thought immoral if his side has lost. But what makes it immoral if you lose and not immoral if you win?” quote by Robert McNamara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/165/robert-mcnamara-12738_burned_general-curtis-lemay-recognized-that-wha_43443.jpg)
![“...but highly placed sources within the Kennedy Administration disagreed: "[T]he assumption that the strategic nuclear balance mattered in any way was wrong... As far as I am concerned, it made no difference... If my memory serves me correctly, we had some five thousand strategic nuclear warheads…” quote by Robert McNamara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/f43/robert-mcnamara-12738_administration_but-highly-placed-sources-within-the-ken_893031.jpg)
