Uproar over Vietnam War architect's obituary and a missing detail

July 9, 9:37 AMSF News Media ExaminerConor Gallagher

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the SF News Media Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

AP Photo/Cecil Stoughton

Robert McNamara, the controversial former Secretary of Defense who was a central figure in the escalation of the Vietnam War, died the morning of July 6. He was 93 years old and spent much of his twilight years apologizing for his role in the catastrophic conflict in southeast Asia.

Opinions over McNamara after his death have varied in the press, from those who believe that his guilt over his significant role in Vietnam was genuine to those who believe that while McNamara may have been burdened by guilt, he was purposely trying to rewrite history and distort his role.

Among the latter was Joseph Galloway's obituary for McClatchy Newspapers, which has been referred to as possibly the harshest obituary ever written for a newspaper.

After The Huffington Post featured Galloway's obituary, the response by readers was apparently so overwhelming that McClatchy edited it three times, deleting the most offensive quotes. Yet, many agreed with Galloway's assessment, evident from comments on the obit. 

One of the most theatrical and heart-wrenching moments that gained national attention during McNamara's days as Defense Secretary was, however, omitted from the obits. As Greg Mitchell from Editor & Publisher points out, there was the tragic case of Norman Morrison. He was the 31-year-old from Baltimore who set himself ablaze under McNamara's window at the Pentagon. The incident has not been mentioned in the McNamara obituaries despite it being a rather momentous moment during McNamara's tenure at the Pentagon. It helped kick-start the anti-war movement -demonstrators held a vigil for Morrison at the beginning of the 1967 Pentagon camp-in. 

Morrison, a young father of three, had been agonizing over the burning of villages and killing of civilians in Vietnam. He demonstrated and lobbied in Washington. The war, the burnings and the civilian deaths did not end. On the morning of November 2, 1965 he employed a drastic final option, immolating himself on the Pentagon lawn. Over 55-thousand more Americans would die in Vietnam after that November morning.

McNamara devoted two pages in his memoir to Morrison's death. When Morrison's wife wrote McNamara thanking him for making a semi-apology about his role in Vietnam, he turned around and used part of the letter in an ad for his book.

That same book, "In Retrospect," had people accusing McNamara of attempting to distort history. As Galloway notes in his obituary, David Halberstam, at his own expense, followed MacNamara on his book tour acting as a "one-man truth squad."

Halberstam wrote about the book:

"In this book, much heralded by his publisher as a mea culpa, the agenda is McNamara's, not the reader's.... [H]e not only gets to give the answers he wants but he also gets to choose the questions he asks himself."

When McNamara was named Secretary of State by President John Kennedy there were 500 Americans in Vietnam. When he left the office in 1968, over 35,000 Americans had died.

If people are going to become upset over someone living [Galloway] condemning the dead, use words of another man who's already resting in heaven.

"[McNamara] did not serve himself or his country well. He was, there is no kinder or gentler word for it, a fool," David Halberstam wrote in "The Best and the Brightest."