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A narrative history and assessment of the early years of Robert McNamara’s tenure as Secretary of Defense, including McNamara’s relationship with Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, the transformation of the Department of Defense as a part of Kennedy’s New Frontier, and the Pentagon’s handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Bay of Pigs episode, and onset of the Vietnam War along with other major national security events and developments during a turbulent and momentous period of the Cold War.
Table of Contents:
I. McNamara and the New Frontier...... 1
The McNamara Appointment.. 3
McNamara’s Team 6
On a Fast Track... 10
II. Shakeup in the Pentagon... 16
The Symington Report 17
The Vance Task Force 19
Defense Intelligence Agency 22
Defense Supply Agency 24
Civil Defense 29
Counterinsurgency 35
The Space Mission 43
LeMay’s Reappointment, Anderson’s Departure..... 47
A Balance Sheet 49
III. Expanding the FY 1962 Budget 52
Eisenhower’s FY 1962 Budget. 53
Congress Defers Action 55
A Quick Look by DoD and BoB 57
28 March Amendment... 62
26 May Amendment... 64
The Berlin Crisis and the 26 July Amendment .. 67
IV. The FY 1963 Budget: Introducing the PPBS..... 72
Antecedents... 72
Organizational Framework: Getting Started 75
BoB’s New Approach to the Spring Preview 78
The Requirements/Planning Phase 79
The Programming Phase 80
The First Draft Presidential Memorandums (DPMs) 83.
The Budgeting Phase 85
White House Decisions 87
A Lasting Impact 91
V. Congress and the FY 1963 Budget 96
McNamara at Center Stage. 97
Rebellion over the RS-70.... 100
Vinson’s Walk in the Rose Garden 104
Furor over Army National Guard and Reserve Reorganization 107
The Senate Weighs In 110
Finessing the Controversies 112
VI. The FY 1964 Budget 118
White House Expectations 119
Shrinking the Service Estimates.... 122
Final Decisions.... 125
The Ups and Downs of the Authorization Bill 131
Calls for Substantial Cuts 135
The House Shaves the Appropriation Bill 136
Averting Deeper Cuts in the Senate 137
VII. Berlin: The Wall.. 143
Berlin in the Eisenhower Administration 143
Indecision, Spring 1961 144
The Acheson Initiatives... 147
The Vienna Summit 150
Toward the Berlin Wall 151
The Wall 156
“Poodle Blanket”..... 162
Confrontation at Checkpoint Charlie 165
Aftermath: Clay vs. Washington 166
Toward a Soviet-GDR Treaty 169
VIII. The Bay of Pigs Fiasco 172
The Eisenhower Legacy 172
Road to “Trinidad”. 174
The JCS Role..... 175
The Civilian Leadership Role 180
Invasion 183
The Taylor Report 186
Recriminations 188
Repercussions 192
IX. The Cuban Missile Crisis 195
Supporting Cuban Exiles 196
Operation Mongoose... 198
Contingency Plans 199
Prologue: September-16 October 203...
Act I: 16-21 October 206
Act II: 22-28 October 209
Epilogue: 29 October-20 November... 214
Impact on Berlin.... 218
Withdrawal of Jupiter Missiles from Turkey 220
Cuba after the Missile Crisis 223
X. Laos 228
Responding to the Eisenhower Warning 231
Divisions within DoD 239
Geneva: May-June 1961... 243
The Phoumi Burden, 1961-1962.. 247
Geneva Again: June-July 1962.... 254
XI. Vietnam: Reluctant Engagement, 1961-1963.. 260
Kennedy and Counterinsurgency, January-April 1961.. 262
The Gilpatric and Staley Reports 266
The Taylor-Rostow Mission 270
McNamara’s Initiatives, December 1961-July 1962.... 274
The Strategic Hamlet Program .... 277
Comprehensive Plan for South Vietnam, July 1962-May 1963 281
The Buddhist Rebellion and the Fall of Diem 283
XII. Flexible Response.... 293
Basic National Security Policy (BNSP) 296
The “Missile Gap” 298
The Acheson Report 303
The Athens and Ann Arbor Addresses 305
Counterforce and Flexible Response..... 309
SIOP and Command and Control. 316
Assured Destruction. 319
XIII. The Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty 323
Initiatives under Eisenhower. 324
Establishment of ACDA 325.....
Proposing a Test Ban Treaty.. 327
End to the Moratorium 331
Search for Compromise, March-November 1962 335
Seizing a Window of Opportunity. 340
Harriman’s Mission to Moscow 345
Debate over the Treaty 351
XIV. NATO Relations: Transatlantic Differences 357
NATO Strategy in 1961 358
NATO Force Requirements for the 1960s 362
France and the Force de Frappe 370.....
Germany: Nuclear Aspirations? 373
Skybolt 375
XV. MLF: A Notion Too Far 385
Birth of a Concept... 386
JFK and the Ottawa Signals 388
Defense Reservations, 1961-1962.. 390
Athens and After 396
Impact of Nassau ... 402
The Merchant Team 405
Slowing the Pace 410
Johnson and the MLF 412
Demise 415
XVI. The Embattled Military Assistance Program.... 421
Adjusting the FY 1962 Budget 421
Latin America 426
The Kitchen Steering Group 427
The FY 1963 Program 429
Troubles at AID 431
The Clay Committee 432
The Shift to Military Sales 433
The FY 1964 Program 435
The FY 1965 Program 439
.......... Preparing the FY 1966 Request 443
XVII. The Search for Savings 447
Balance of Payments.... 447
The Cost Reduction Program 453
Base Closures 462
The TFX and Cost Effectiveness 466
XVIII. Tightening the Budget: FYs 1965 and 1966 475
The Kennedy Administration and the FY 1965 Budget 476
Kennedy’s Assassination: Johnson Takes the Reins..... 479
The FY 1965 Authorization Bill 484
The FY 1965 Appropriation Bill 487
Preparation of the FY 1966 Budget 489
XIX. Vietnam: Into the Vortex498
McNamara in Saigon–December 1963 499
The Khanh Coup 502
Toward Escalation: Spring 1964 504
The Other Players: Laos and Cambodia... 515
The Tonkin Gulf Resolution... 517
Crisis in Saigon.... 524
Back to the Drawing Board 527
“McNamara’s War” 531
XX. Conclusion 535
List of Abbreviations 550
Notes 555
Note on Sources and Selected Bibliography 630
Index 650
Charts
1. Department of Defense, 9 March 1961.. 21
2. Department of Defense, 1 August 1964. 50
Tables
1. Eisenhower Proposed FY 1962 Budget (NOA) 54
2. Eisenhower FY 1962 Budget.. 55
3. FY 1962 Appropriations (NOA) Enacted 69
4. Military Services’ Program Estimates for FY 1963 and
Secretary of Defense 22 September 1961 Guidance...... 83
5. January 1962 Budget Estimates for FY 1963 Program 92
6. TOA and NOA by Program, FY 1962-FY 1964 130
7. Selected Country Programs (MAP), FY 1964 438
8. Military Assistance Program Comparison of NOA Request
with Actual Funding, FY 1961-FY 1965 446
9. Financial Summary by Program, FY 1961-FY 1966 495
10. Comparison of Active Forces, 1961 and 1965 496
Photographs follow pages 183 and 367.
Historians and students interested in politics and government, as well as members of the general public who wish to learn about John F. Kennedy, Robert McNamara, the Cuban Missile Crisis and other events in history during that administration and time period will enjoy this publication.
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