Editing Robert McNamara (section)

==Post-World Bank activities==

From 1981 to 1984, McNamara served on the board of trustees at [[American University]] in Washington, D.C.<ref>American University [https://www.american.edu/trustees/historic-list.cfm?_ga=2.110676038.2141744296.1587754566-1420476289.1543564634 website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201127024115/https://www.american.edu/trustees/historic-list.cfm?_ga=2.110676038.2141744296.1587754566-1420476289.1543564634 |date=November 27, 2020 }}</ref>

He was elected to the [[American Philosophical Society]] in 1981.<ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Robert+McNamara&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=2022-06-13 |website=search.amphilsoc.org |archive-date=June 13, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220613141300/https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Robert+McNamara&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1982, McNamara joined several other former national security officials in urging that the United States pledge to not use nuclear weapons first in Europe in the event of hostilities; subsequently he proposed the elimination of nuclear weapons as an element of NATO's defense posture.{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}}

McNamara maintained his involvement in politics in his later years, delivering statements critical of the [[George W. Bush|Bush]] administration's [[2003 invasion of Iraq]].{{sfn|Saunders|2004}} On January 5, 2006, McNamara and most living former Secretaries of Defense and [[United States Secretary of State|Secretaries of State]] met briefly at the White House with President Bush to discuss the war.{{sfn|Sanger|2006}}

===Memoir===
{{external media | width = 210px | float = right | headerimage= | video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?64642-1/retrospect-tragedy-lessons-vietnam ''Booknotes'' interview with McNamara on ''In Retrospect'', April 23, 1995], [[C-SPAN]]}}
McNamara's memoir, ''In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam'', published in 1995, presented an account and analysis of the Vietnam War from his point of view.{{sfn|McNamara|1995}} According to his lengthy ''New York Times'' obituary, "[h]e concluded well before leaving the Pentagon that the war was futile, but he did not share that insight with the public until late in life. In 1995, he took a stand against his own conduct of the war, confessing in a memoir that it was 'wrong, terribly wrong'." In return, he faced a "firestorm of scorn" at that time.{{sfn|Weiner|2009}}

===1995 Vietnam visit===
In November 1995, McNamara returned to Vietnam, this time visiting Hanoi.{{sfn|Neu|1997|p=739}}   Despite his role as one of the architects of Operation Rolling Thunder, McNamara met with a surprisingly warm reception, even from those who survived the bombing raids, and was often asked to autograph pirate editions of ''In Retrospect'' which had been illegally translated and published in Vietnam.{{sfn|Neu|1997|p=730}}  During his visit, McNamara met his opposite number during the war, General [[Võ Nguyên Giáp]] who served as North Vietnam's Defense Minister.{{sfn|Neu|1997|p=730}} During his conversation, McNamara brought up the [[Gulf of Tonkin incident]] and asked Giáp what happened on August 4, 1964. "Absolutely nothing", Giáp replied. Giáp confirmed that the [[Gulf of Tonkin incident|attack on 4 August 1964]] had been imaginary while also confirming that the [[Gulf of Tonkin incident#First attack|attack on August 2]] happened.<ref>{{cite news| url = http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/11/interviews/mcnamara/ | title = CNN Cold War – Interviews: Robert McNamara | access-date = June 25, 2010 | publisher = CNN | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080614065921/http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/11/interviews/mcnamara/ | archive-date = June 14, 2008}}</ref>

The American historian Charles Neu who was present at the McNamara-Giáp meeting observed the differences in the style of the two men with McNamara repeatedly interrupting Giáp to ask questions, usually related to something numerical, while Giáp gave a long leisurely monologue, quoting various Vietnamese cultural figures such as poets, that began with Vietnamese revolts against China during the years 111 BC–938 AD when Vietnam was a Chinese province.  Neu wrote his impression was that McNamara was a figure who thought in the short term while Giáp thought in the long term.{{sfn|Neu|1997|p=730}}