Word: mcnamara
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...response to all the predictable questions -- about the effectiveness of the bombing, the prospects for negotiation, the Vietnam internal situation -- McNamara gave all the predictable answers. Concisely and logically, he explained that the bombing is forcing Hanoi to pay "a very heavy price;" that it won't bring about negotiations by itself, but that "in combination with action in the South" it will "lead to a change in behavior" in North Vietnam, "evidenced" either by negotiation or a "gradual reduction in pressure in the South." He said that the Vietnam economy looks "better" -- the Ky government having devalued the piastre...
...when they turned, finally, to this country, McNamara kicked aside the ponderous language of interdepartmental memoranda, smiled gratefully behind his rimless glasses, and unloaded the theme of his trip: the people of this country, he said, are failing to deal effectively with the immense problems -- in education, health, the cities -- that threaten to choke off progress...
Defense spending in 1966 was lower compared to the country's total product of goods and services than in four of the previous five years -- even including the Vietnam spending. But the question -- according to McNamara -- is "do we have the will power? And I don't think we do. We haven't demonstrated it to date and I'm afraid we're not going to demonstrate it in the future...
...even more distressing to McNamara than this economic failure, and the desperate need to raise revenue, is the general complacency and lack of concern he sees spreading through the country. "I'm disheartened by the apathy of students," he said somewhat sadly on Monday...
Only one half of the men capable of serving -- about 600,000 men yearly -- are needed. Since over 1.2 million men are capable of serving out of a total manpower force of 1.8 million, another 600,000, McNamara believes, should be offered alternatives to service in the armed forces -- in the Peace Corps, Vista, the National Teachers Corps, etc. They should not be required to serve; in fact, McNamara feels that President Pusey misinterpreted the proposal when he criticized it at last year's commencement. But "my personal feeling is that they have an obligation to serve," he said last...