It is rather interesting watching this movie after seeing the McNamara doc Fog of War. Path to War depicts him as practically a war-mongerer, in Fog he depicts himself as much more detached from blame concerning Vietnam and claiming to be against escalation from the beginning.
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What about the depiction of LBJ?
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I have to say that after seeing the Fog of War that Robert McNamara is one of the most fascinating people in American history. I wouldn't say the he was disgustingly incompetent. The man is very, very intelligent. It's just how he handled things. His whole life was based on crunching numbers. It's what he did in World War II. It's how he helped the Ford company excel. Besides, I admire him even more for the fact that he has pretty much confessed that the whole thing was a huge disaster. That is a true show of character.
shareI would agree - except that it doesn't take much to admit that the whole thing was a disaster. Every history book that has been written, or will be written, can document the myriad ways in which Vietnam was a failure. My gripe with McNamara is that he doesn't admit even one iota of culpability. I'm not saying that he has to shoulder the entire blame - that is wrong, since he's not 100% to blame - but there can be no doubt from the books, from the movies, from the personal accounts that I have heard, that McNamara was at least partially responsible for the escalation in Vietnam.
shareIt was all Lady Bird's fault! Bloody COW!!
McNamara's exculpations sound as convincing as Albert Speer's.
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If you watch the movie all the way through you can see his sentiments about the war start to waiver toward the end, and I believe Fog of War was kind of his way of publiclly apologizing for his role in the vietnam war, while at the same time diverting some blame off of himself.
shareNo matter how objective or convincing they may seem, a good rule of thumb is to NEVER form an opinion on a real person by watching fictional films. Watch documentaries or, even better, read books.
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Who do you think played the better Robert McNamara-Dylan Baker in 'Thirteen Days' or Alec Baldwin in 'Path to War'? I thought both did quite well and made for an interesting comparison to one another. I recommend watching 'Path to War' after watching 'Thirteen Days' because you can see some of the same characters who did so well during the Cuban Missile Crisis do so poorly during Vietnam.
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Yes. What a pity North Viet Nam did not have nuclear weapons.
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