Word: mcnamara
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...would like to suggest that one extremely important point was over-looked in the challenge for the Secretary of Defense to debate Mr. Scheer: Mr. McNamara is not a private citizen, but a public official, and a public official of sufficient importance that any public statement he makes is automatically regarded as a significant contribution to national policy. To expect the Secretary of Defense to engage in a public debate where polemic is the order of the day is thus naive...
Moreover, as one who is profoundly opposed to United States Policy in Vietnam, I would suggest that it is in "our" interest as well as Mr. McNamara's that no debate take place, for it surely would be most unfortunate at this juncture of events to force the Secretary of Defense to engage in another ringing affirmation of our policy to the accompaniment of appropriate denunciations of North Vietnam and the National Liberation Front. It might contribute to our own sense of righteousness an outrage, but under no circumstances could the further public commitment of Mr. McNamara to what...
According to its director, the Kennedy Institute made the decision not to have Secretary McNamara debate the issues of the Vietnam war. An insight into the kind of reasoning behind that decision is Professor Neustadt's analogy" It's like saying to me that I should change the curriculum or the subject matter of my courses because students don't think it makes sense." (Crimson, Nov.8) How ridiculous that students have a say in the learning experience! Is this the kind of student-teacher partnership in free inquiry that Prof. Neustadt seeks to experiment with at the Kennedy Institute...
Similarly, why should Secretary McNamara meet a critic of the Vietnam war in a debate which would be open to all students and which would, through wide publicity, inform large parts of the public on the opposing views of the war in Vietnam? How much more convenient to meet with small groups of Harvard students in off-the-record sessions! Besides, Mr. McNamara is a busy man and may not have the time to argue government policy in a public forum...
...editorial from the New York Times of Monday, Nov 7, should explain the necessity for the personal confrontation here at Harvard of Secretary of Defense McNamara. He is the President's principal adviser on the Vietnam war and its principal manager. That this is true is incontrovertible on the evidence of his off-the-record remarks at Eliot and Quincy Houses. These remarks should be made public. The entire country should know...