150-473: Robert Strange McNamara ( / ˈ m æ k n ə m ær ə / ; June 9, 1916 – July 6, 2009) was an American businessman and government official who served as the eighth United States secretary of defense from 1961 to 1968 under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson at the height of the Cold War . He remains the longest-serving secretary of defense, having remained in office over seven years. He played
300-621: A Time magazine article on December 2, 1960, and interviewed him on December 8, with his brother and right-hand man Robert F. Kennedy also being present. McNamara told Kennedy that he didn't know anything about government, to which Kennedy replied: "We can learn our jobs together. I don't know how to be president either". McNamara had read Kennedy's ghostwritten book Profiles in Courage and asked him if he had really written it himself, with Kennedy insisting that he did. McNamara's confidence and self-assurance impressed Kennedy. Kennedy offered McNamara
450-647: A Legion of Merit . In 1946, Tex Thornton , a colonel under whom McNamara had served, put together a group of former officers from the Office of Statistical Control to go into business together. Thornton had seen an article in Life magazine portraying the Ford Motor Company as being in dire need of reform. Henry Ford II, himself a World War II veteran from the Navy , hired the entire group of ten, including McNamara. They helped
600-579: A defense minister in many other countries. The president appoints the secretary of defense with the advice and consent of the Senate , and is by custom a member of the Cabinet and by law a member of the National Security Council . To ensure civilian control of the military , U.S. law provides that the secretary of defense cannot have served as an active-duty commissioned officer in the military in
750-461: A "light" system which he believed could protect against the far smaller number of Chinese missiles. However, he never believed it was wise for the United States to move in that direction because of psychological risks of relying too much on nuclear weaponry and that there would be pressure from many directions to build a larger system than would be militarily effective. McNamara always believed that
900-706: A Cold War defense strategy of flexible response , which anticipated the need for military responses short of massive retaliation . McNamara consolidated intelligence and logistics functions of the Pentagon into two centralized agencies: the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Defense Supply Agency . During the Kennedy administration, McNamara presided over a build-up of U.S. soldiers in South Vietnam . After
1050-489: A Latin motto (perhaps "Fraternitas, Humanitas, Cognitioque"). A second Latin-letter fraternity at William & Mary, the P.D.A. Society, was publicly known as "Please Don't Ask". John Heath , chief organizer of the Phi Beta Kappa, according to tradition earlier sought but was refused admission to the P.D.A., though he may instead have disdained to join it (much later, his friend and fellow student William Short wrote that
1200-606: A Masonic lodge also met at this tavern, but the Freemasons gathered at a different building in Williamsburg. (Some of the original members of Phi Beta Kappa did become Freemasons, but later in life). Whether the students organized to meet more freely and discuss non-academic topics, or to discuss politics in a Revolutionary society is unknown. The earliest records indicate only that the students met to debate and engage in oratory, and on topics that would have been not far removed from
1350-432: A Phi Beta Kappa event. The topic of the lectures should be an important philosophical issue of current interest, and the lectures should offer contrasting (not necessarily opposing) views on that topic. Honoraria for the symposiasts are funded at an adjusted rate based on the current size of the endowment. Previous winners have won as much as $ 25,000 each. The Mary Isabel Sibley Fellowship is awarded annually, alternating in
1500-745: A San Francisco accounting firm. He returned to Harvard in August 1940 to teach accounting in the Business School and became the institution's highest-paid and youngest assistant professor at that time. Following his involvement in a Harvard program to teach analytical approaches used in business to officers of the United States Army Air Forces, McNamara entered the USAAF as a captain in early 1943, serving most of World War II with its Office of Statistical Control. One of his major responsibilities
1650-514: A Soviet attack of any kind, which would kill Soviet military forces and civilians. This was the same nuclear strategy planned by the Strategic Air Command (SAC), led by General Curtis LeMay . McNamara did not agree with this approach. He sought other options after seeing that this strategy could not guarantee the destruction of all Soviet nuclear weapons , thus leaving the United States vulnerable to retaliation. He educated NATO members on
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#17328547848881800-415: A basis for determining whether to begin or continue a research and development program. But in practice, what it proved to be was a cost burden that became a barrier to entry for companies attempting to deal with the military. It aided the trend toward a few large non-competitive defense contractors serving the military. Rather than serving any useful purpose, the overhead necessary to generate information that
1950-482: A conventional war in central Europe against the Soviet Army , with a large number of divisions armed with expensive hi-tech weapons designed for maximum firepower, instead of having small teams of Special Forces armed with relatively low tech weapons like assault rifles fight in a Third World country. When McNamara took over the Pentagon in 1961, the United States military relied on an all-out nuclear strike to respond to
2100-481: A fighter that could do everything (fast supersonic dash, slow carrier and short airfield landings, tactical strike and even close air support), in the end it involved too many compromises to succeed at any of them. The Navy version was drastically overweight and difficult to land, and eventually canceled after a Grumman study showed it was incapable of matching the abilities of the newly revealed Soviet MiG-23 and MiG-25 aircraft. The F-111 eventually found its niche as
2250-489: A group of other Army Air Force veterans to work for Ford Motor Company . These " Whiz Kids " helped reform Ford with modern planning, organization, and management control systems. After briefly serving as Ford's president, McNamara accepted appointment as secretary of defense. McNamara became a close adviser to Kennedy and advocated the use of a blockade during the Cuban Missile Crisis . Kennedy and McNamara instituted
2400-730: A major role in promoting the U.S.'s involvement in the Vietnam War . McNamara was responsible for the institution of systems analysis in public policy , which developed into the discipline known today as policy analysis . McNamara was born in San Francisco , California , and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley and Harvard Business School . He served in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II . After World War II, Henry Ford II hired McNamara and
2550-585: A more loosely coordinated lobbying association of four of the nation's oldest and most prestigious honor societies, called the Honor Society Caucus . Its members include Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi , Sigma Xi , and Omicron Delta Kappa . The symbol of the Phi Beta Kappa Society is a golden key engraved on the obverse with the image of a pointing finger, three stars, and the Greek letters from which
2700-537: A one-point ordered McNamara out of the Naval Operations Room, saying that as a civilian he was unqualified to be making decisions about naval matters, leading McNamara to say that he was the Defense Secretary and Anderson was unqualified to be ordering him to do anything. On Tuesday October 16, ExComm had their first meeting. The majority of officials favored an air attack on Cuba in hopes to destroy
2850-670: A quarterly subscription-based journal that accepts essays on literature, history, science, public affairs, and culture. The Phi Beta Kappa Book Awards are the Ralph Waldo Emerson Award , the Christian Gauss Award (named for Christian Gauss ), and the Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science . The Book Awards are given annually to outstanding scholarly books published in the United States. Winning works, which are drawn from
3000-411: A series of top-level management positions. McNamara had Ford adopt computers to construct models to find the most efficient, rational means of production, which led to much rationalization. McNamara's style of "scientific management" with his use of spreadsheets featuring graphs showing trends in the auto industry were regarded as extremely innovative in the 1950s and were much copied by other executives in
3150-628: A statement of alternative approaches, force levels, and other factors. The DPM in its final form became a decision document. The DPM was hated by the JCS and uniformed military in that it cut their ability to communicate directly to the White House. The DPMs were also disliked because the systems analysis process was so heavyweight that it was impossible for any service to effectively challenge its conclusions. The Development Concept Paper examined performance, schedule, cost estimates, and technical risks to provide
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#17328547848883300-473: A stipend of $ 20,000. The Walter J. Jensen Fellowship for French Language, Literature, and Culture aims to help educators and researchers improve education in standard French language, literature, and culture and in the study of standard French in the United States. Established in 2001 by Professor Walter J. Jensen (ΦΒΚ, UCLA), the fellowship is awarded for at least six continuous months of study in France and carries
3450-457: A stipend originally set in 1995 at $ 10,000, to be adjusted for inflation. The stipend for 2016 was $ 15,500. The Romanell-Phi Beta Kappa Professorship is awarded annually to scholars in the field of philosophy, without restriction to any one school of philosophical thought. The professorship recognizes not only distinguished achievement but also the recipient's contribution or potential contribution to public understanding of philosophy. Since 1956,
3600-563: A tactical bomber and electronic warfare aircraft with the Air Force. However, many analysts believe that even though the TFX project itself was a failure, McNamara was ahead of his time as the trend in fighter design has continued toward consolidation—the F-16 Falcon and F/A-18 Hornet emerged as multi-role fighters, and most modern designs combine many of the roles the TFX would have had. In many ways,
3750-489: Is a Level I position in the Executive Schedule , thus earning a salary of US$ 246,400, as of October 2024. The longest-serving secretary of defense is Robert McNamara , who served for a total of 7 years, 39 days. Combining his two non-sequential services as the secretary of defense, the second-longest serving is Donald Rumsfeld , who served just ten days fewer than McNamara. The second-longest unbroken tenure
3900-699: Is a mandatory initiation fee (between $ 50 and $ 95, as of 2005), which is sometimes covered by the inductee's university. Membership in Phi Beta Kappa is typically limited to students with very high grade point averages (GPAs), at least 3.8 out of a 4.0 scale. In 2001, a quorum of PBK alumni voted to raise the GPA cutoff: though all chapters set their standards for induction, they were now instructed to be much more selective in terms of GPA. Since its inception, 17 U.S. Presidents , 42 U.S. Supreme Court Justices, and more than 136 Nobel Laureates have been inducted members. Phi Beta Kappa has 293 chapters. Chapters are approved at
4050-477: Is no such thing as strategy, only crisis management." After the crisis, McNamara recommended to Kennedy that Admiral Anderson and General LeMay be sacked. However, Kennedy was afraid of a Congressional backlash if he sacked two of the chiefs at once. Moreover, Kennedy did not wish for his disagreements with the Joint Chiefs to become public and felt that sacking two of the chiefs at once would lead to speculation in
4200-436: Is second only to the president in the military hierarchy, its incumbent has sometimes unofficially been referred to as "deputy commander-in-chief". The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is the principal military adviser to the secretary of defense and the president; while the chairman may assist the secretary and president in their command functions, the chairman is not in the chain of command. The secretary of state ,
4350-404: Is the best-known of those addresses, but there were dozens of others at schools such as Bowdoin, Brown, Dartmouth, Harvard, Union, and Yale. As the first collegiate organization of its type to adopt a Greek -letter name, the Phi Beta Kappa is generally considered a forerunner of modern college fraternities as well as the model for later collegiate honorary societies. Ironically, it was partly
4500-755: Is the guide of life”. Greek was chosen because it was the language of science in Roman times . Later, in May 1777, a new sign of recognition was devised: "A salutation of the clasp of the hands, together with an immediate stroke across the mouth with the back of the same hand, and a return with the hand used by the saluted". This new complex of gestures was created to allow the mutual recognition of members "in any foreign country or place." Further chapters appeared at Union College in 1817, Bowdoin College in 1825, and Brown University in 1830. The original chapter at William & Mary
4650-474: Is the head of the United States Department of Defense (DoD), the executive department of the U.S. Armed Forces , and is a high-ranking member of the federal cabinet . The secretary of defense's position of command and authority over the military is second only to that of the president of the United States , who is the commander-in-chief . This position corresponds to what is generally known as
Robert McNamara - Misplaced Pages Continue
4800-632: The 1961 Lincoln Continental . On November 9, 1960, McNamara became the first president of the Ford Motor Company from outside the Ford family since John S. Gray in 1906. After his election in 1960, President-elect John F. Kennedy first offered the post of Secretary of Defense to Robert A. Lovett , who had already served in that position in the Truman administration ; Lovett declined but recommended McNamara. Kennedy had read about McNamara and his career in
4950-564: The ACHS on December 30, 1925 . Its participation was short-lived, with the decision to withdraw and operate again as an independent society made just over a decade later, effective December 15, 1937 . In the 1960s, Vanderbilt University professor Donald Davidson claimed that Phi Beta Kappa was under the influence of Communists. In 1988, the United Chapters of Phi Beta Kappa officially changed its name to The Phi Beta Kappa Society , recalling
5100-619: The American Philosophical Association . The associated Lebowitz Symposium is presented annually at a divisional meeting of the American Philosophical Association. The prize was established in 2013 by Eve Lewellis Lebowitz in honor of her late husband, Martin R. Lebowitz, to provide significant, tangible recognition for excellence in philosophical thought. The Symposium program consists of a pair of lectures to be delivered at an annual APA division meeting and
5250-588: The American Revolution . The War Department , headed by the secretary of war , was created by Act of Congress in 1789 and was responsible for both the Army and Navy until the founding of a separate Department of the Navy in 1798. Based on the experiences of World War II , proposals were soon made on how to more effectively manage the large combined military establishment. The Army generally favored centralization while
5400-582: The Coast Guard when its command and control is transferred to the Department of Defense. Only the secretary of defense (or the president or Congress) can authorize the transfer of operational control of forces between the three military departments ( Department of the Army , the Navy , and the Air Force ) and the eleven Unified Combatant Commands . Because the secretary of defense is vested with legal powers that exceed those of any commissioned officer , and
5550-434: The Cold War doctrine of deterrence . McNamara's alternative in the doctrine of counterforce was to try to limit the United States nuclear exchange by targeting only enemy military forces. This would prevent retaliation and escalation by holding Soviet cities hostage to a follow-up strike. McNamara later concluded that counterforce was not likely to control escalation but to provoke retaliation. The U.S. nuclear policy remained
5700-561: The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia by five students, with John Heath as its first President. The society established the precedent for naming American college societies after the initial letters of a secret Greek motto. The group consisted of students who frequented the Raleigh Tavern as a common meeting area off the college campus. A persistent story maintains that
5850-733: The Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, McNamara served as a member of EXCOMM and played a large role in the Administration's handling and eventual defusing of the Cuban Missile Crisis. He was a strong proponent of the blockade option over a missile strike and helped persuade the Joint Chiefs of Staff to agree with the blockade option. Increased attention to conventional strength complemented these special forces preparations. In this instance, he called up reserves and also proceeded to expand
6000-836: The Defense Superior Service Medal (DSSM), the Defense Meritorious Service Medal (DMSM), the Joint Service Commendation Medal (JSCM) and the Joint Service Achievement Medal (JSAM) are awarded, to military personnel for service in joint duty assignments, in the name of the secretary of defense. In addition, there is the Joint Meritorious Unit Award (JMUA), which is the only ribbon (as in non-medal) and unit award issued to joint DoD activities, also issued in
6150-481: The Department of the Navy under the Department of Defense) – authorized to act as convening authority in the military justice system for General Courts-Martial ( 10 U.S.C. § 822 : article 22, UCMJ ), Special Courts-Martial ( 10 U.S.C. § 823 : article 23, UCMJ), and Summary Courts-Martial ( 10 U.S.C. § 824 : article 24 UCMJ). The Secretary of Defense
Robert McNamara - Misplaced Pages Continue
6300-530: The Joint Strike Fighter is seen as a rebirth of the TFX project, according to defense analyst David S. Grantham, in that it purports to satisfy the needs of three American air arms (as well as several foreign customers), fulfilling the roles of strike fighter, carrier-launched fighter, V/STOL , and close air support (and drawing many criticisms similar to those leveled against the TFX). The Cuban Missile Crisis
6450-694: The Philippines in support. McNamara noted to Kennedy it was quite possible that the two airfields in Laos could be seized by the Communist forces, which would cut off any U.S. forces in Laos and turn the intervention into a debacle. At a meeting on 29 April 1961, when questioned by the Attorney General, Robert F. Kennedy, McNamara stated that "we should take a stand in Thailand and South Vietnam", pointedly omitting Laos from
6600-704: The Strategic Army Corps (STRAC), the Tactical Air Command , and the airlift units of the Military Air Transport Service and the military services, Strike Command had the mission "to respond swiftly and with whatever force necessary to threats against the peace in any part of the world, reinforcing unified commands or... carrying out separate contingency operations." McNamara also increased long-range airlift and sealift capabilities and funds for space research and development. After reviewing
6750-642: The TFX, later known as the F-111 dual service project to combine Navy requirements for a Fleet Air Defense (FAD) aircraft and Air Force requirements for a tactical bomber. His experience in the corporate world led him to believe that adopting a single type for different missions and service would save money. He insisted on the General Dynamics entry over the DOD's preference for Boeing because of commonality issues. Though heralded as
6900-567: The president with the advice and consent of the Senate , is by federal law ( 10 U.S.C. § 113 ) the head of the Department of Defense, "the principal assistant to the President in all matters relating to Department of Defense", and has "authority, direction and control over the Department of Defense". Because the Constitution vests all military authority in Congress and the president,
7050-405: The secretary general of NATO and offered to the U.S. permanent representative to NATO in recognition of U.S. servicemembers who meet the eligibility criteria specified by NATO. As the head of the department, the secretary of defense is the chief witness for the congressional committees with oversight responsibilities over the Department of Defense. The most important committees, with respect to
7200-490: The secretary of the treasury , the secretary of defense, and the attorney general are generally regarded as the four most important (and are officially the four most senior and oldest) cabinet officials because of the size and importance of their respective departments. The current secretary of defense is retired general Lloyd Austin , who is the first African American to serve in the position. An Army, Navy, and Marine Corps were established in 1775, in concurrence with
7350-482: The under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness , and such recommendations be must approved by the secretary of defense before it can be handed over to the president, who is the final approval authority for the MOH, although it is awarded in the name of Congress . The secretary of defense, with the concurrence of the secretary of state , is the approval authority for the acceptance and wear of NATO medals issued by
7500-400: The 150 project review process authorized by McNamara. Funding and staff were contributed by every branch of the U.S. armed services and intelligence agencies. Project 112 primarily concerned the use of aerosols to disseminate biological and chemical agents that could produce "controlled temporary incapacitation". The test program was conducted on a large scale at "extracontinental test sites" in
7650-474: The 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident , the number of U.S. soldiers in Vietnam escalated dramatically. McNamara and other U.S. policymakers feared that the fall of South Vietnam to a Communist regime would lead to the fall of other governments in the region . McNamara grew increasingly skeptical of the efficacy of committing U.S. troops to South Vietnam. In 1968, he resigned as secretary of defense to become president of
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#17328547848887800-441: The Air Force. Conversely, his actions in mandating a premature across-the-board adoption of the untested M16 rifle proved catastrophic when the weapons began to fail in combat, though later congressional investigations revealed the causes of these failures as negligence and borderline sabotage on behalf of the Army ordnance corps' officers. McNamara tried to extend his success by merging development programs as well, resulting in
7950-547: The Army (DA), Department of the Navy (DON) & Department of the Air Force (DAF)), the Defense Agencies and DoD Field Activities , the National Guard Bureau (NGB), and such other offices, agencies, activities, organizations, and commands established or designated by law, or by the president or by the secretary of defense. Department of Defense Directive 5100.01 describes the organizational relationships within
8100-653: The Army Air Force, McNamara was a Cadet in the Golden Bear Battalion at U.C. Berkeley. McNamara was also a member of the UC Berkeley's Order of the Golden Bear , a fellowship of students and leading faculty members formed to promote leadership within the student body. He then attended Harvard Business School , where he earned an MBA in 1939. Immediately thereafter, McNamara worked for a year at Price Waterhouse ,
8250-431: The Army to become its own branch of service, the United States Air Force . A new title was coined by the Act for the head of the NME: Secretary of Defense. At first, each of the service secretaries maintained cabinet status. The first secretary of defense, James Forrestal , who in his previous capacity as the secretary of the Navy had opposed the creation of the new position, found it difficult to exercise authority over
8400-419: The British attempt at reclamation of the sovereign American colonies, including Virginia, there was a temporary closure of the College of William & Mary and disbandment of Phi Beta Kappa in early 1781. Elisha Parmelee, an alumnus of Yale College and Harvard College , passed through Williamsburg and took charters from the Phi Beta Kappa to establish branches of the society at these schools. A second chapter
8550-400: The Central and South Pacific with some exposure to military personnel, and secretly in civilian locations such as the New York subway with bacteria deemed 'harmless' but without consent. McNamara took other steps to increase U.S. deterrence posture and military capabilities. In December 1961, he established the United States Strike Command (STRICOM). Authorized to draw forces when needed from
8700-534: The Cold War. The problems posed by the possibility of a war with China and the logistical problems of supporting a large units of troops in Laos led McNamara ultimately to favor an alternative strategy of stationing a small number of U.S. Army Special Forces in Laos to work with American allies such as the Hmong hill tribes. On 29 September 1961, the Joint Chiefs of Staff estimated to McNamara that if Chinese forces entered Laos, then SEATO forces would need at least 15 divisions consisting of some 278, 000 men to stop them. At
8850-441: The Communists in the North to unify the country. Aid was initially limited to financial support, military advice and covert intelligence gathering but expanded after 1954 when the French withdrew. The US Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) Vietnam was established on 1 November 1955. In December 1956 the North Vietnam government authorized Viet Cong forces in South Vietnam to begin a low-level insurgency. The first battle between
9000-407: The Department of Defense, making it one Executive Department . The position of the deputy secretary of defense , the number two position in the department, was also created at this time. The general trend since 1949 has been to further centralize management in the Department of Defense, elevating the status and authorities of civilian OSD appointees and defense-wide organizations at the expense of
9150-411: The FYDP covered ten military areas: strategic forces, general-purpose forces, intelligence and communications, airlift and sealift, guard and reserve forces, research and development, central supply and maintenance, training and medical services, administration and related activities, and support of other nations. The Draft Presidential Memorandum (DPM)—intended for the White House and usually prepared by
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#17328547848889300-425: The JSAM to the achievement medals issued by the services. While the approval authority for DSSM, DMSM, JSCM, JSAM and JMUA is delegated to inferior DoD officials: the DDSM can be awarded only by the secretary of defense. Recommendations for the Medal of Honor (MOH), formally endorsed in writing by the secretary of the military department concerned and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , are processed through
9450-438: The Kennedy Administration to work and socialize with Kennedy, and he became close to Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy , eventually serving as a pallbearer at the younger Kennedy's funeral in 1968. Initially, the basic policies outlined by President Kennedy in a message to Congress on March 28, 1961, guided McNamara in the reorientation of the defense program. Kennedy rejected the concept of first-strike attack and emphasized
9600-583: The Kennedy administration, McNamara was closely aligned with Dean Rusk, the Secretary of State, with both favoring greater American support for South Vietnam. Initially, the main concern of the new Kennedy administration was Laos, not South Vietnam. In February 1961, McNamara spoke in favor of intervention in Laos, saying that six AT-6 planes owned by the Central Intelligence Agency could be fitted to carry 200-pound bombs in support of General Phoumi Nosavan 's forces. Rusk shot down that proposal, saying his World War II experiences in Burma had taught him that bombing
9750-410: The Korean War were still fresh, and it was generally accepted if the United States sent in troops into Laos, it was almost certain to provoke Chinese intervention and lead to another confrontation with the country. The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) was split with its European members such as France and Britain in opposition to the intervention and its Asian members such as Thailand and
9900-446: The McNamara era, Alain C. Enthoven and K. Wayne Smith , described the concept as follows: "First, the word 'systems' indicates that every decision should be considered in as broad a context as necessary... The word 'analysis' emphasizes the need to reduce a complex problem to its component parts for better understanding. Systems analysis takes a complex problem and sorts out the tangle of significant factors so that each can be studied by
10050-434: The McNamara years. Fiscal year TOA increased from $ 48.4 billion in 1962 (equal to $ 373 billion in 2023) to $ 49.5 ($ 365) billion in 1965 (before the major Vietnam increases) to $ 74.9 ($ 501) billion in 1968, McNamara's last year in office (though he left office in February). Not until FY 1984 did DoD's total obligational authority surpass that of FY 1968 in constant dollars . One major hallmark of McNamara's cost reductions
10200-416: The Navy had institutional preferences for decentralization and the status quo. The resulting National Security Act of 1947 was largely a compromise between these divergent viewpoints. It renamed the Department of War the Department of the Army , and added both it and the Department of the Navy to a newly established National Military Establishment (NME). The Act also separated the Army Air Forces from
10350-485: The P.D.A. "had lost all reputation for letters, and was noted only for the dissipation & conviviality of its members"). The new society was intended to be "purely of domestic manufacture, without any connection whatever with anything European, either English or German." The founders of Phi Beta Kappa declared that the society was formed for congeniality and to promote good fellowship, with "friendship as its basis and benevolence and literature as its pillars." Before
10500-530: The Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Program has offered undergraduates the opportunity to spend time with some of America's most distinguished scholars. The purpose of the program is to contribute to the intellectual life of the campus by making possible an exchange of ideas between the Visiting Scholars and the resident faculty and students. Phi Beta Kappa also sponsors a National Arts & Sciences Initiative, which taps into its cross-country network of members, chapters, and associations to connect with leaders, shares
10650-479: The Soviet Union if they were ordered to do so. This would lead to a number of Broken Arrow nuclear weapon accidents. McNamara was concerned that unauthorized use of nuclear weapons was possible. He advocated the development of what became known as Permissive Action Links (PALs) , devices incorporated into nuclear weapons that would render them inoperable during an unauthorized attempted use. The PALs were first installed on weapons stored in Europe, and then throughout
10800-537: The U.S. inventory. Toward the end of his term McNamara also opposed an anti-ballistic missile (ABM) system proposed for installation in the U.S. in defense against Soviet missiles, arguing the $ 40 billion "in itself is not the problem; the penetrability of the proposed shield is the problem." Under pressure to proceed with the ABM program after it became clear that the Soviets had begun a similar project, McNamara finally agreed to
10950-403: The United States could afford any amount needed for national security, but that "this ability does not excuse us from applying strict standards of effectiveness and efficiency to the way we spend our defense dollars.... You have to make a judgment on how much is enough." Acting on these principles, McNamara instituted a much-publicized cost reduction program, which, he reported, saved $ 14 billion in
11100-466: The United States guaranteed to not invade Cuba then they would take the missiles out. The second message, a more formal one, was broadcast on the radio stating if the United States attacked then Cuba was prepared to retaliate with masses of military power. Although American defense planning focused on using nuclear weapons , Kennedy and McNamara saw it was clear the use of strategic weapons could be suicidal. Following Cuba's aftermath, McNamara stated, "There
11250-811: The Viet Cong and the South Vietnamese army occurred on 26 September 1959. During President John F. Kennedy's term, while McNamara was Secretary of Defense, American troops in South Vietnam increased from 900 to 16,000 advisers,. They were not supposed to engage in combat but rather to train the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). The Gulf of Tonkin incidents in August 1964, which involved two purported attacks on U.S. Navy destroyers by North Vietnamese naval vessels, led to an escalated of U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Under
11400-674: The Vietnam War. Robert McNamara was born in San Francisco, California. His father was Robert James McNamara, sales manager of a wholesale shoe company, and his mother was Clara Nell (Strange) McNamara. His father's family was Irish and, in about 1850, following the Great Irish Famine , had emigrated to the U.S., first to Massachusetts and later to California. He graduated from Piedmont High School in Piedmont, California in 1933, where he
11550-629: The World Bank . He served as president until 1981, shifting the focus of the World Bank from infrastructure and industrialization towards poverty reduction. After retiring, he served as a trustee of several organizations, including the California Institute of Technology and the Brookings Institution . In his later writings and interviews, he expressed regret for the decisions he made during
11700-807: The analysis was so large and so complex that while it was available to all interested parties, none of them could challenge the conclusions. Among the management tools developed to implement PPBS were the Five Year Defense Plan (FYDP), the Draft Presidential Memorandum (DPM), the Readiness, Information and Control Tables, and the Development Concept Paper (DCP). The annual FYDP was a series of tables projecting forces for eight years and costs and manpower for five years in mission-oriented, rather than individual service, programs. By 1968,
11850-533: The best defense strategy for the U.S. was a parity of mutual assured destruction with the Soviet Union. An ABM system would be an ineffective weapon as compared to an increase in deployed nuclear missile capacity. Project 112 , a biological and chemical weapon experimentation project, was authorized by Robert McNamara as part of a total review of the US military. The name "Project 112" refers to this project's number in
12000-545: The chance to be either Secretary of Defense or Secretary of the Treasury ; McNamara came back a week later, accepting the post of Secretary of Defense on the condition of having the right of final approval in all appointments to the Department of Defense , with Kennedy replying: "It's a deal". McNamara's salary as the CEO of Ford was $ 3 million per year while by contrast the position of the Defense Secretary paid only $ 25,000 per year. Given
12150-419: The chapter at Dickinson College , founded in 1887; Beta of Pennsylvania, the chapter at Lehigh University (founded later that same year); Gamma of Pennsylvania, the chapter at Lafayette College (1890); and Delta of Pennsylvania, the chapter at the University of Pennsylvania (1892). By 1920, a total of 89 chapters existed at a variety of schools. Phi Beta Kappa was one of six honor societies that co-founded
12300-557: The class. Some chapters also elect graduate students graduating with Master's or Doctoral degrees who have exceptional academic records. Each chapter sets its academic standards, but all inductees must have studied the liberal arts and sciences, demonstrated "good moral character", and, usually, earned grades placing them in the top tenth of their class. However, at least one school, Princeton University , includes Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) students in Phi Beta Kappa. There
12450-735: The combatant commanders of the Combatant Commands . All these high-ranking positions, civil and military, require Senate confirmation. The Department of Defense is composed of the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) and the Joint Staff (JS), Office of the Inspector General (DODIG), the Combatant Commands , the Military Departments ( Department of
12600-509: The control of the military and to put it under the control of the Secretary of Defense. In the same year, he set up the Defense Supply Agency to work toward unified supply procurement, distribution, and inventory management under the control of the Secretary of Defense rather than the uniformed military. McNamara's institution of systems analysis as a basis for making key decisions on force requirements, weapon systems, and other matters occasioned much debate. Two of its main practitioners during
12750-570: The crisis. Kennedy instructed ExComm to immediately come up with a response to the Soviet threat unanimously without him present. The Joint Chiefs of Staff favored launching air strikes against the Soviet missile sites in Cuba, an opinion that McNamara did not hold. He advised Kennedy against the chiefs, warning that air strikes would almost certainly be metaphorically crossing the Rubicon . McNamara's relations with
12900-592: The curriculum. In the Phi Beta Kappa Initiation of 1779, the new member was informed, Older fraternal societies existed at College of William & Mary . The F.H.C. Society (nicknamed "the Flat Hat Club "), founded in 1750, is the first collegiate secret society recorded in North America; unlike the newer Phi Beta Kappa, the F.H.C. was a Latin-letter society, its name taken from the initial letters of
13050-486: The date that a particular fob or key was awarded, when in fact it is merely the date of the founding of the society). Only in 1912 was the key made to a uniform standard of size, golden appearance (some are plated), and engraving with the school's name, recipient's name, and date of the award. The Phi Beta Kappa Society publishes The Key Reporter , a newsletter distributed quarterly to all contributing members and biannually to all other members, and The American Scholar ,
13200-501: The department and is the foundational issuance for delineating the major functions of the department. The latest version, signed by former secretary of defense Robert Gates in December 2010, is the first major re-write since 1987. The secretary's principally civilian staff element is called the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) and is composed of the deputy secretary of defense (DEPSECDEF) and six under secretaries of defense in
13350-485: The enemy avoided head-on military confrontation and resorted to political subversion and guerrilla tactics . As McNamara said in his 1962 annual report, "The military tactics are those of the sniper, the ambush, and the raid. The political tactics are terror, extortion, and assassination." In practical terms, this meant training and equipping U.S. military personnel as well as allies, such as South Vietnam , for those same exact kinds of counterinsurgency operations. During
13500-892: The entire department, are the two authorizing committees, the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) and the House Armed Services Committee (HASC), and the two appropriations committees, the Senate Appropriations Committee and the House Appropriations Committee . For the DoD intelligence programs the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence have
13650-445: The establishment of the Department of Defense, see the lists of secretaries of the Navy and secretaries of war prior to 1947. Democratic Republican Independent / Unknown The secretary of defense is sixth in the presidential line of succession , following the secretary of the treasury and preceding the attorney general . On December 10, 2020, President Donald Trump modified
13800-458: The fields of acquisition & sustainment , research & engineering , comptroller/chief financial officer , intelligence , personnel & readiness , and policy ; several assistant secretaries of defense ; other directors and the staffs under them. The name of the principally military staff organization, organized under the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is the Joint Staff (JS). The Defense Distinguished Service Medal (DDSM),
13950-528: The fields of Greek and French. The award may be used for the study of Greek language, literature, history, or archaeology, or the study of French language or literature. Established in 1934 by Isabelle Stone (ΦΒΚ, Wellesley College) in honor of her mother, Mary Isabel Sibley, the fellowship was designed to reward the women in these two fields of study with the experience of studying and living abroad, which Miss Stone did in Greece during her studies. The fellowship carries
14100-433: The fields of the humanities, the social sciences, the natural sciences, and mathematics, must be of broad interest and accessible to the general reader. Each award carries a $ 10,000 prize. The winners were selected from five short-listed titles in each category. The Dr. Martin R. Lebowitz and Eve Lewellis Lebowitz Prize for Philosophical Achievement and Contribution is awarded by the Phi Beta Kappa Society in conjunction with
14250-472: The final review of both alternatives on Sunday, October 21, upon Kennedy's request, McNamara presented the argument against the attack and for the quarantine. On Wednesday, October 24 at 10:00 am EDT, the quarantine line around Cuba went into effect. With tensions continuing to escalate, it was confirmed the crisis had to be resolved within 48 hours when the White House received two messages from Nikita Khrushchev. The first message, an informal one, stated if
14400-411: The financial sacrifices, McNamara was able to insist to Kennedy that he have the right to appoint his officials and run the Pentagon his own way. According to Special Counsel Ted Sorensen , Kennedy regarded McNamara as the "star of his team, calling upon him for advice on a wide range of issues beyond national security, including business and economic matters." McNamara became one of the few members of
14550-432: The first African-American member, George Washington Henderson , was elected at the same institution two years later. In 1885, however, Phi Beta Kappa eliminated those majoring in engineering from eligibility. This practice continues today. Each chapter is designated by its state and a Greek letter indicating its position in the order in which that state's chapters were founded. For example, Alpha of Pennsylvania refers to
14700-458: The five-year period beginning in 1961. Although he had to withstand a storm of criticism from senators and representatives from affected congressional districts, he closed many military bases and installations that he judged unnecessary for national security. He was equally determined about other cost-saving measures. Due to the nuclear arms race, the Vietnam War buildup and other projects, Total Obligational Authority (TOA) increased greatly during
14850-461: The following decades. In his 1995 memoirs, McNamara wrote: "I had spent fifteen years as a manager [at Ford] identifying problems and forcing organizations—often against their will—to think deeply and realistically about alternative courses of action and their consequences". He was a force behind the Ford Falcon sedan, introduced in the fall of 1959—a small, simple and inexpensive-to-produce counter to
15000-433: The hawkish Joint Chiefs of Staff had been strained during the crisis, and his relations with Admiral George Anderson and General Curtis LeMay were especially testy. Both Anderson and LeMay had favored invading Cuba, welcoming the prospects of a war with the Soviet Union, under the grounds that a war with them was already inevitable, and whose attitudes towards Kennedy and McNamara had verged on insubordination. Anderson had at
15150-457: The heart of the McNamara management program. According to Enthoven and Smith, the basic ideas of PPBS were: "the attempt to put defense program issues into a broader context and to search for explicit measures of national need and adequacy"; "consideration of military needs and costs together"; "explicit consideration of alternatives at the top decision level"; "the active use of an analytical staff at
15300-556: The large, expensive vehicles prominent in the late 1950s. McNamara placed a high emphasis on safety: the Lifeguard options package introduced the seat belt (a novelty at the time), padded visor, and dished steering wheel, which helped to prevent the driver from being impaled on the steering column during a collision. After the Lincoln line's very large 1958, 1959, and 1960 models proved unpopular, McNamara pushed for smaller versions, such as
15450-544: The manner in which the older fraternities (and the Masonic bodies on which the collegiate societies were in part patterned) wore their insignia. Later, the size of the medallion was reduced and men took to wearing the insignia on their watch chains as fobs. Though several stylistic details have survived since the earliest days—the use of the stars, pointing hand, and Greek letters on the obverse, for example—notable differences exist between older keys and current examples. The name of
15600-492: The media about such a disagreement. Kennedy told McNamara: "All right, you can fire one. Which one will it be?" Without hesitation, McNamara answered "Anderson". Later on in 1963, a White House release announced that Admiral Anderson was the new American ambassador to Portugal . The Truman and Eisenhower administrations had committed the U.S. to support the French and native anti-Communist forces in Vietnam in resisting efforts by
15750-418: The members, who have been initiated into the S.P. alias Phi Beta Kappa Society." The "key" of Phi Beta Kappa did not begin as a copy of a watch key. The first insignia was a larger, cut-and-engraved silver medallion, essentially a square of metal with a loop cut integrally with the body of the square from the same sheet of silver, to allow for suspension from one or two ribbons worn around the member's neck in
15900-439: The method most appropriate to it." Enthoven and Smith said they used mainly civilians as systems analysts because they could apply independent points of view to force planning. McNamara's tendency to take military advice into less account than had previous secretaries and to override military opinions contributed to his unpopularity with service leaders. It was also generally thought that Systems Analysis, rather than being objective,
16050-486: The military departments and the services within them. The last major revision of the statutory framework concerning the position was done in the Goldwater–Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986 . In particular, it elevated the status of joint service for commissioned officers, making it in practice a requirement before appointments to general officer and flag officer grades could be made. As
16200-457: The missile sites, although the vote was not unanimous which brought them to other alternatives. By the end of the week, ExComm came up with four different alternative strategies to present to the president: a blockade , an air strike , an invasion , or some combination of these. These actions are known as OPLAN 312, OPLAN 314 and OPLAN 316. A quarantine was a way to prevent the Soviets from bringing any military equipment in or out of Cuba. During
16350-419: The money-losing company reform its chaotic administration through modern planning, organization, and management control systems. Because of their youth, combined with asking many questions, Ford employees initially and disparagingly referred to them as the "Quiz Kids". The Quiz Kids rebranded themselves as the " Whiz Kids ". Starting as manager of planning and financial analysis, McNamara advanced rapidly through
16500-655: The name of the secretary of defense. The DDSM is analogous to the distinguished services medals issued by the military departments (i.e. Army Distinguished Service Medal , Navy Distinguished Service Medal & Air Force Distinguished Service Medal ), the DSSM corresponds to the Legion of Merit , the DMSM to the Meritorious Service Medal , the JSCM to the service commendation medals, and
16650-553: The name under which the organization had been established in 1776. In 1996, Emily Bernstein of The New York Times reported declining rates of Phi Beta Kappa membership acceptances at the University of Connecticut due to a decrease in social prestige. Citing an article by The Key Reporter , Bernstein claims that this is due in part to increasing numbers of 'first-generation college students, students who do not consult their parents on such matters, and students who have gone to public schools, all of whom are less likely to have heard of
16800-433: The nation's "limited warfare" capabilities. These moves were significant because McNamara was abandoning President Dwight D. Eisenhower 's policy of massive retaliation in favor of a flexible response strategy that relied on increased U.S. capacity to conduct limited, non-nuclear warfare. The Kennedy administration placed particular emphasis on improving the ability to counter communist "wars of national liberation", in which
16950-551: The nation's 100 black colleges and universities are members of Phi Beta Kappa " due to a rule that 10 faculty members at a university must be existing members, for which Black faculty would be socially disadvantaged due to a historic lack of admittance into relevant universities. Additionally, they created a list of "Predominantly White But Second- or Third-Tier Colleges and Universities That Have Been Awarded Phi Beta Kappa Chapters," which included Allegheny College and Millsaps College . Today, Phi Beta Kappa participates in
17100-466: The nations in Southeast Asia to risk a war over. McNamara soon changed his mind about Laos. On 1 May 1961, he advised President Kennedy to send in ground troops into Laos, saying "we must be prepared to win", and advising using nuclear weapons if China should intervene. On 2 May, McNamara, using more strong language, told Kennedy that the United States should definitely intervene in Laos, even though he
17250-405: The need for adequate strategic arms and defense to deter nuclear attack on the United States and its allies. U.S. arms, he maintained, must constantly be under civilian command and control , and the nation's defense posture had to be "designed to reduce the danger of irrational or unpremeditated general war." The primary mission of U.S. overseas forces, in cooperation with its allies, was "to prevent
17400-429: The obverse has also changed over the years, with never fewer than three, but on some known examples with as many as a dozen (the explanation as to the meaning of the stars in these early cases varies from chapter to chapter). Also, the date of the awarding of the honor is only seen on keys from the second quarter of the nineteenth century onward (some people mistake the date that appears on the fob or key—December 5, 1776—as
17550-457: The office of Secretary of Defense, no additional appointments of military men to that office shall be approved. Defenselink bio Archived November 18, 2008, at the Wayback Machine , Retrieved February 8, 2010; and Marshall Foundation bio Archived September 27, 2011, at the Wayback Machine , Retrieved February 8, 2010. Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society ( ΦΒΚ ) is
17700-619: The oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded at the College of William & Mary in Virginia, in December 1776. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, and to induct outstanding students of arts and sciences at select American colleges and universities. Since its inception, its inducted members include 17 United States presidents , 42 United States Supreme Court justices, and 136 Nobel laureates . The Phi Beta Kappa Society had its first meeting on December 5, 1776, at
17850-554: The order of succession for the office of Secretary of Defense in Executive Order 13963. The order of succession is: It is hereby expressed as the intent of the Congress that the authority granted by this Act is not to be construed as approval by the Congress of continuing appointments of military men to the office of Secretary of Defense in the future. It is hereby expressed as the sense of the Congress that after General Marshall leaves
18000-622: The other branches with the limited powers his office had at the time. To address this and other problems, the National Security Act was amended in 1949 to further consolidate the national defense structure in order to reduce interservice rivalry , directly subordinate the secretaries of the Army , the Navy and the Air Force to the secretary of defense in the chain of command, and rename the National Military Establishment as
18150-634: The preceding seven years except for generals and admirals , who cannot have served on active duty within the previous ten years. Congress can legislatively waive this restriction and has done so three times, for George C. Marshall , James N. Mattis , and Lloyd J. Austin, III . Subject only to the orders of the president, the the secretary of defense is in the chain of command and exercises command and control , for both operational and administrative purposes, over all DoD-administered service branches – the Army , Marine Corps , Navy , Air Force , and Space Force – as well as
18300-477: The president. The secretary is one of only five or six civilians – the others being the president, the three "service secretaries" (the secretary of the Army , secretary of the Navy , and secretary of the Air Force ), and the secretary of homeland security (when the United States Coast Guard is under the United States Department of Homeland Security and has not been transferred to
18450-429: The principal oversight role. The secretary of defense is a statutory member of the National Security Council . As one of the principals, the secretary along with the vice president , secretary of state and the assistant to the president for national security affairs participates in biweekly Principals Committee (PC) meetings, preparing and coordinating issues before they are brought before full NSC sessions chaired by
18600-410: The recipient was not engraved on the earliest fobs or keys and was not until the first decade of the nineteenth century. The name of the school from which the fob or key came was also not routinely included on the earliest models, and sometimes the only way to trace a key to a particular school's chapter is by researching the name of the recipient against surviving class records. The number of stars on
18750-458: The regular armed forces. Whereas active duty strength had declined from approximately 3,555,000 to 2,483,000 between 1953 (the end of the Korean War ) and 1961, it increased to nearly 2,808,000 by June 30, 1962. Then the forces leveled off at around 2,700,000 until the Vietnam military buildup began in 1965, reaching a peak of nearly 3,550,000 by mid-1968, just after McNamara left office. Kennedy, who
18900-456: The rise of true "social" fraternities modeled after Phi Beta Kappa later in the nineteenth century which obviated the social aspects of membership in the organization, transforming it into the honorary society it is today. By 1883, when the United Chapters of Phi Beta Kappa were established, there were 25 chapters. The first women were elected to the Society at the University of Vermont in 1875, and
19050-457: The same time, the Joint Chiefs also estimated that the two airfields in Laos were capable of landing some 1,000 troops a day each, which would give the advantage to the Chinese. Such dire assessments led Kennedy to ignore McNamara and the Joint Chiefs, and to favor a diplomatic solution to the Laos crisis. United States secretary of defense The United States secretary of defense ( SecDef )
19200-419: The same. McNamara raised the proportion of Strategic Air Command (SAC) strategic bombers on 15-minute ground alert from 25% to 50%, thus lessening their vulnerability to missile attack. He also approved Operation Chrome Dome in 1961, in which some B-52 strategic bomber aircraft armed with thermonuclear weapons remained on continuous airborne alert, flying routes that put them in positions to attack targets in
19350-520: The secretary of defense is a civilian position intended to be independent of the active-duty leadership, a secretary is required to have been retired from service for at least seven (originally ten) years unless a waiver is approved by Congress. Since the creation of the position in 1947, such a waiver has been approved only three times, for Army general George Marshall in 1950, Marine Corps General Jim Mattis in 2017, and retired Army general Lloyd Austin in 2021. The secretary of defense, appointed by
19500-573: The secretary of defense. Some of those high-ranking officials, civil and military (outside of OSD and the Joint Staff) are: the secretary of the Army , secretary of the Navy , and secretary of the Air Force , Army chief of staff , commandant of the Marine Corps , chief of naval operations , Air Force chief of staff , chief of space operations , and chief of the National Guard Bureau and
19650-535: The separate and often uncoordinated service efforts in intelligence and communications, McNamara in 1961 consolidated these functions in the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Defense Communications Agency (the latter originally established by SoD Thomas S. Gates Jr. in 1960), having both report to the Secretary of Defense through the JCS. The end effect was to remove the Intelligence function from
19800-444: The society takes its name. On the reverse are found the initials "SP" in the script. One official historian of the society, William T. Hastings, and some others believe that the "S" and "P", which stood for Societas Philosophiae , "Philosophical Society", were the original name of the Society and that "Phi Beta Kappa" came only over time to be taken as the name of the society. The heading on the original list of members states, "A List of
19950-561: The society. Earlier, in 1970, Robert Reinhold similarly reported for The New York Times that recipient students at the University of California at Berkeley expressed a mix of distaste and shame about the degree. Other members expressed a lack of satisfaction with the society for its significance. A 1997 article from The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education critiqued the society for under-representation at historically black colleges and universities . The authors wrote that "Only 3 of
20100-411: The statutory authority of the secretary of defense is derived from their constitutional authorities. Since it is impractical for either Congress or the president to participate in every piece of Department of Defense affairs, the secretary of defense and the secretary's subordinate officials generally exercise military authority. As the head of DoD, all officials, employees and service members are "under"
20250-452: The steady erosion of the Free World through limited wars". Kennedy and McNamara rejected massive retaliation for a posture of flexible response . The U.S. wanted choices in an emergency other than "inglorious retreat or unlimited retaliation", as the president put it. Out of a major review of the military challenges confronting the U.S. initiated by McNamara in 1961 came a decision to increase
20400-549: The systems analysis office—was a method to study and analyze major defense issues. Sixteen DPMs appeared between 1961 and 1968 on such topics as strategic offensive and defensive forces, NATO strategy and force structure, military assistance, and tactical air forces. OSD sent the DPMs to the services and the Joint Chief of Staff (JCS) for comment; in making decisions, McNamara included in the DPM
20550-411: The top policymaking levels"; "a plan combining both forces and costs which projected into the future the foreseeable implications of current decisions"; and "open and explicit analysis, that is, each analysis should be made available to all interested parties, so that they can examine the calculations, data, and assumptions and retrace the steps leading to the conclusions." In practice, the data produced by
20700-479: The value of the arts and sciences through all of life, and advocate for policies that strengthen an arts and sciences education. Phi Beta Kappa has chapters in only about 10% of American higher learning institutions, and only about 10% of these schools' Arts and Sciences graduates are invited to join. Although most students are elected in their senior year, many colleges elect a limited number of extremely select students in their junior year, generally less than 2% of
20850-519: Was Caspar Weinberger's, at 6 years, 306 days. The shortest-serving secretary of defense is Elliot Richardson , who served 114 days and then was appointed U.S. attorney general amid the resignations of the Watergate Scandal . (This is not counting deputy secretaries of defense William P. Clements and William Howard Taft IV , who each served a few weeks as temporary/acting secretary of defense). For precursors to this position prior to
21000-547: Was a nuclear standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union and lasted for 13 days in October 1962. During this time, Robert McNamara was serving as Secretary of Defense and one of John F. Kennedy's trusted advisors. When Kennedy received confirmation of the placement of offensive Soviet missiles in Cuba , he immediately set up the 'Executive Committee', referred to as ' ExComm '. This committee included United States government officials, such as Robert McNamara, advising Kennedy on
21150-557: Was fascinated with counterinsurgency warfare, made a major push to develop the Special Forces , popularly known as the Green Berets. The U.S. Army leadership was, for the most part, strongly opposed to the counterinsurgency vogue, and stoutly resisted the presidential pressure for more counterinsurgency training and forces. The U.S. Army, for reasons of bureaucratic politics, budgetary reasons and sheer pride, wanted to be equipped to fight
21300-452: Was founded at Yale College in late 1780; a third, at Harvard College in 1781; and a fourth, at Dartmouth College in 1787. Phi Beta Kappa was a secret society to protect its members and to instil a sense of solidarity. The new society was given the motto, Φιλοσοφία Βίου Κυβερνήτη or in Latin letters Philosophia Biou Kybernētēs , which loosely translated to English means "Love of learning
21450-600: Was ineffective in the jungles and six planes were not enough. In the spring of 1961 Kennedy seriously considered intervening in Laos where the Communist Pathet Lao, supported by North Vietnam, were winning the civil war. At one point, the Joint Chiefs of Staff advised sending 60,000 U.S. troops into Laos. However, Laos appeared to be a backward, landlocked country with barely any modern roads and only two modern airfields which were both small by Western standards and would have caused logistical problems. Furthermore, memories of
21600-671: Was often in practice ignored resulted in increased costs throughout the system. The Readiness, Information, and Control Tables provided data on specific projects, more detailed than in the FYDP, such as the tables for the Southeast Asia Deployment Plan, which recorded by month and quarter the schedule for deployment, consumption rates, and future projections of U.S. forces in Southeast Asia. McNamara's staff stressed systems analysis as an aid in decision-making on weapon development and many other budget issues. The secretary believed that
21750-576: Was president of the Rigma Lions boys club and earned the rank of Eagle Scout . McNamara attended the University of California, Berkeley and graduated in 1937 with a B.A. in economics with minors in mathematics and philosophy . He was a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity , was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in his sophomore year, and earned a varsity letter in crew . Before commissioning into
21900-600: Was re-established. In 1831, the Harvard chapter publicly disclosed the fraternity's secrets during a period of strong anti- Masonic sentiment. The first chapter established after Phi Beta Kappa became an "open" society was that at Trinity College in Connecticut, in 1845. University of Alabama established in 1851. In the pre-Civil War period, Society chapters frequently sponsored addresses by distinguished speakers. Ralph Waldo Emerson 's 1837 address at Harvard, "The American Scholar",
22050-477: Was tailored by the civilians to support decisions that McNamara had already made. The most notable example of systems analysis was the Planning, Programming and Budgeting System (PPBS) instituted by United States Department of Defense Comptroller Charles J. Hitch . McNamara directed Hitch to analyze defense requirements systematically and produce a long-term, program-oriented defense budget. PPBS evolved to become
22200-691: Was the analysis of U.S. bombers' efficiency and effectiveness, especially the B-29 forces commanded by Major General Curtis LeMay in India , China , and the Mariana Islands . McNamara established a statistical control unit for the XX Bomber Command and devised schedules for B-29s doubling as transports for carrying fuel and cargo over the Hump . He left active duty in 1946 with the rank of lieutenant colonel and with
22350-430: Was the consolidation of programs from different services, most visibly in aircraft acquisition, believing that the redundancy created waste and unnecessary spending. McNamara directed the Air Force to adopt the Navy's McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II and LTV A-7 Corsair II combat aircraft, consolidations that were quite successful, and the success was bidirectional: the Navy would later adopt improvements first made by
22500-589: Was very certain that it would lead to Chinese intervention, concluding that "at some point, we may have to initiate the use of nuclear weapons to prevent the defeat of our forces". Kennedy, who was distrustful of the hawkish advice given by the Joint Chiefs of Staff after the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion , instead decided to seek a diplomatic solution to the Laos crisis at a peace conference in Geneva in 1961–62 that ultimately led to an agreement to make Laos officially neutral in
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