Editing Robert McNamara (section)

==Assessments==
Perhaps the earliest assessment of Robert McNamara's tenure as Secretary of Defense was [[David Halberstam|David Halberstam's]] 1972 ''[[The Best and the Brightest]]''. Halberstam reported on McNamara's propensity to lie:

{{blockquote|Bob McNamara was a remarkable man in a remarkable era; if at the beginning he seemed to embody many if not most of the era’s virtues, at the end of it he seemed to embody its pathos, flaws and tragedy...He would, for instance, lie, dissemble, not just to the public, they all did that in varying degrees, but inside, in high-level meetings, always for the good of the cause, always for the right reason, always to serve the Office of the President. Bob knew what was good for the cause, but sometimes at the expense of his colleagues. And indeed, experienced McNamara watchers, men who were fond of him, would swear they knew when Bob was lying; his voice would get higher, he would speak faster, he would become more insistent.{{sfn|Halberstam|1972|p=396}}}}

Halberstam also excoriated McNamara's disregard for valuable information that was not quantified; he reported on [[McNamara fallacy#1965 Da Nang visit|one incident in 1965 in Da Nang]] and concluded “...he did not serve himself nor the country well; he was, there is no kinder or gentler word for it, a fool.”{{sfn|Halberstam|1972|p=284}}

{{external media | width = 210px | float = right | headerimage= | video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?38911-1/promise-power ''Booknotes'' interview with Deborah Shapley on ''Promise and Power'', March 21, 1993], [[C-SPAN]]}}
In 1993, Washington journalist Deborah Shapley published a 615-page biography of Robert McNamara titled ''Promise and Power: The Life and Times of Robert McNamara''. Shapley concluded her book with these words: "For better and worse McNamara shaped much in today's world—and imprisoned himself. A little-known nineteenth century writer, F.W. Boreham, offers a summation: 'We make our decisions. And then our decisions turn around and make us.'"{{sfn|Shapley|1993}}

''[[The Fog of War|The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara]]'' is a 2003 [[Errol Morris]] documentary consisting mostly of interviews with Robert McNamara and archival footage.{{sfn|Morris|2003}} It went on to win the [[Academy Award for Documentary Feature]]. The particular structure of this personal account is accomplished with the characteristics of an intimate dialogue. As McNamara explains, it is a process of examining the experiences of his long and controversial period as the United States Secretary of Defense, as well as other periods of his personal and public life.{{sfn|Blight|Lang|2007|p=120–131}}