McNamara Describes Lessons Learned in Vietnam

Looking back at the lessons of the Vietnam War, former Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara warned a full house at the Kennedy School of Government's ARCO Forum yesterday about the importance of negotiations.

"You've got to communicate with your enemies," McNamara said.

McNamara sat on a panel with James G. Blight, professor of international relations and director of the Vietnam War Project at Brown University and Robert K. Brigham, an associate professor of history at Vassar College. The three discussed the book they recently co-wrote, Argument Without End: In Search of Answers to the Vietnam Tragedy.

In assessing the diplomatic and military policies during the war, McNamara told the audience that the American and Vietnamese governments both made mistakes.

"Millions of people were killed because we both missed opportunities," McNamara said.

Had either side been willing to compromise and enter into dialogue, according to McNamara, deaths could have been prevented.

"Each of us could have avoided the war entirely or terminated it earlier," McNamara said.

The book resulted from a four-year project to explore each nation's perspectives on the war. The project involved meetings between American officials who served in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations and U.S. scholars of Vietnam and the military, as well as their Vietnamese counterparts. The meetings discussed the mistakes made during the Vietnam War.

The meetings, which took place in Vietnam andItaly, provided both nations with historical andpolitical insights into the Vietnam War.

The meeting also offered the participants anopportunity to reexamine some of their ownbeliefs.

"The people who were participating, includingBob [McNamara], evolved," Blight said.

"I learned how much one could learn fromsitting down with opponents," McNamara said,explaining that the main lesson of the dialogueswas the importance of continual, open dialogue.

He added that the U.S. government must applythe lessons of the Vietnam War to the currentmilitary situation in Kosovo.

"I do not believe there is a high probabilitythat external air power can deal effectively andconclusively with a failed state. That's thesituation we faced in Bosnia and Kosovo and earlierin Vietnam," he said.

McNamara concluded by saying that millionsthroughout the world have died intwentieth-century wars:

"The question I put to myself and to you is, isthis what we want in the first century of themillennium?

The meetings, which took place in Vietnam andItaly, provided both nations with historical andpolitical insights into the Vietnam War.

The meeting also offered the participants anopportunity to reexamine some of their ownbeliefs.

"The people who were participating, includingBob [McNamara], evolved," Blight said.

"I learned how much one could learn fromsitting down with opponents," McNamara said,explaining that the main lesson of the dialogueswas the importance of continual, open dialogue.

He added that the U.S. government must applythe lessons of the Vietnam War to the currentmilitary situation in Kosovo.

"I do not believe there is a high probabilitythat external air power can deal effectively andconclusively with a failed state. That's thesituation we faced in Bosnia and Kosovo and earlierin Vietnam," he said.

McNamara concluded by saying that millionsthroughout the world have died intwentieth-century wars:

"The question I put to myself and to you is, isthis what we want in the first century of themillennium?