07-07-2009, 04:00 AM
Paul Milenkovic:
I believe Robert McNamara was one of the âWhiz Kids.â
There is a certain kind of symbiosis between the Military and the Corporation. What they have in common is the need to organize mass numbers of men (and more recently women) into a unitary organization to achieve a common purpose. For the Military, it is to bring enough force of arms to bear to achieve a political or diplomatic or existential purpose. For the Corporation, it is to bring enough resources to bear to achieve economies of scale.
A large organization that works effectively is a difficult undertaking. One way to do this is the hierarchical structure. General-Colonel-Major-Captain-Lieutenenant-Sargeant-Corporal-Private. President-Vice President-General Manager-Director-Manager-Supervisor-Group Leader-Engineer, or Supervisor-Foreman-Worker-Assistant.
Another way to do this is to tolerate some degree of waste â there may be an abundance of middle managers or of certain workers, and a lot of them may be drawing pay and eating Army food while doing crossword puzzles, but the point is that each woman and man has a particular job to do, and provided that job gets done with minimum distruption to the rest of the organization, the Army or the company functions as a well-oiled machine. Waste is just a cost of getting a large enough organization to paradoxically get the economies of scale.
The other aspect to the symbiosis is that war had become an industrial undertaking â think the dictum that amateurs discuss strategy, professionals worry about logistics. The South had the better generals, but the North had the industrial production to grind the South down. WW-II Germany also had the better generals and in many cases superior tanks and perhaps fighter aircraft; the United States had and to an extent the Soviet ally had the overwhelming advantage in industrial production to grind Germany down, provided the Allies had the will to spend the blood and treasure to do the grinding â the Germans thought that was a close thing though on the ultimate question of will, perhaps because of their misunderstanding of the United States and the German failure to read up on Oliver Cromwell, the New Model Army, the Americans mockingly called Red Necks after the scarves worn by the Cromwell faction, and the English Civil War.
What I think happened is that Mr. McNamara as a Whiz Kid was part of a group of Young Gun (OK, another metaphor) operations research people, a fancy term for the study of how to reduce waste in large organizations and make them even more effective as an Army, more profitable as a business. These Whiz Kids helped win WW-II by streamlining wartime production â the Sherman tank was an inferior design to the German Tiger, but we overwhelmed the Germans not only with an abundance of tanks, but with an abundance of artillery shells (and the P-47 fighter bomber). The Germans regarded the âextravagantâ use of Arty as âunfairâ, but as they say, Câest la guerre!
On his laurels of being a WW-II Whiz Kid, McNamara was recruited by the Ford family to run their auto company. On the laurels of being a Ford CEO, he was recruited to run the Defense Department. To say that the âarchitect of the Edselâ was the âarchitect of the Vietnam Warâ is a gross oversimplification in pursuit of talking points against a man who served his country under a Democratic Party Presidential Administration.
If anything, Mr. McNamara was the architect of the Ford Falcon, which perhaps gives one the greatest insight into his Spartan and utilitarian thinking regarding both things military and things civilian.
So the man who gave us the Ford Falcon also gave us the Minuteman Missile, which kept the peace to this day. The Minuteman was a Ford Falcon of atomic delivery systems â no frills, on budget, bare bones transportation of a nuclear munition. Compare that with the accessory-laden overchromed MX Peacekeeper boondogle under Reagan some 20 years later. I just saw a restored a Falcon with a For Sale sign â they wonât let me have a surplus Minuteman warhead, but my wife might let my own a Falcon to contemplate a thing built on the same principles of economy of function.
A woman lawyer, one time neighbor, friend of my Mom, liberal anti-war Democrat, once suggested to me that Mr. McNamara has a lot to answer for to the many women who sent their sons off to never return, especially in light of his mea culpa some years back about admitting to Vietnam being a mistake. Maybe that was the liberal Democrat in Mr. McNamara talking, but it didnât get him any respect from liberal Democrats or anyone else.
Maybe the mistake to which he was confessing was that overwhelming industrial might is not the sure fire path to victory as it was claimed for the American Civil War and for WW-II â in Vietnam we had met a foe who had bested us in the will department under the circumstances in question. Would my momâs friend have admitted that she too was part of the equation of victory vs stalemate vs defeat, and would she and others in the anti-war contingent look the Gold Star moms in the eyes for her influence on how things turned out?
For whatever his failings, I want to remember Robert McNamara as a patriotic American who served his country in two wars, for one of which he receive accolades, one for which he received scorn, but he did what was right in protecting America to the best of his considerable intellectual abilities, and for that I honor him.
I believe Robert McNamara was one of the âWhiz Kids.â
There is a certain kind of symbiosis between the Military and the Corporation. What they have in common is the need to organize mass numbers of men (and more recently women) into a unitary organization to achieve a common purpose. For the Military, it is to bring enough force of arms to bear to achieve a political or diplomatic or existential purpose. For the Corporation, it is to bring enough resources to bear to achieve economies of scale.
A large organization that works effectively is a difficult undertaking. One way to do this is the hierarchical structure. General-Colonel-Major-Captain-Lieutenenant-Sargeant-Corporal-Private. President-Vice President-General Manager-Director-Manager-Supervisor-Group Leader-Engineer, or Supervisor-Foreman-Worker-Assistant.
Another way to do this is to tolerate some degree of waste â there may be an abundance of middle managers or of certain workers, and a lot of them may be drawing pay and eating Army food while doing crossword puzzles, but the point is that each woman and man has a particular job to do, and provided that job gets done with minimum distruption to the rest of the organization, the Army or the company functions as a well-oiled machine. Waste is just a cost of getting a large enough organization to paradoxically get the economies of scale.
The other aspect to the symbiosis is that war had become an industrial undertaking â think the dictum that amateurs discuss strategy, professionals worry about logistics. The South had the better generals, but the North had the industrial production to grind the South down. WW-II Germany also had the better generals and in many cases superior tanks and perhaps fighter aircraft; the United States had and to an extent the Soviet ally had the overwhelming advantage in industrial production to grind Germany down, provided the Allies had the will to spend the blood and treasure to do the grinding â the Germans thought that was a close thing though on the ultimate question of will, perhaps because of their misunderstanding of the United States and the German failure to read up on Oliver Cromwell, the New Model Army, the Americans mockingly called Red Necks after the scarves worn by the Cromwell faction, and the English Civil War.
What I think happened is that Mr. McNamara as a Whiz Kid was part of a group of Young Gun (OK, another metaphor) operations research people, a fancy term for the study of how to reduce waste in large organizations and make them even more effective as an Army, more profitable as a business. These Whiz Kids helped win WW-II by streamlining wartime production â the Sherman tank was an inferior design to the German Tiger, but we overwhelmed the Germans not only with an abundance of tanks, but with an abundance of artillery shells (and the P-47 fighter bomber). The Germans regarded the âextravagantâ use of Arty as âunfairâ, but as they say, Câest la guerre!
On his laurels of being a WW-II Whiz Kid, McNamara was recruited by the Ford family to run their auto company. On the laurels of being a Ford CEO, he was recruited to run the Defense Department. To say that the âarchitect of the Edselâ was the âarchitect of the Vietnam Warâ is a gross oversimplification in pursuit of talking points against a man who served his country under a Democratic Party Presidential Administration.
If anything, Mr. McNamara was the architect of the Ford Falcon, which perhaps gives one the greatest insight into his Spartan and utilitarian thinking regarding both things military and things civilian.
So the man who gave us the Ford Falcon also gave us the Minuteman Missile, which kept the peace to this day. The Minuteman was a Ford Falcon of atomic delivery systems â no frills, on budget, bare bones transportation of a nuclear munition. Compare that with the accessory-laden overchromed MX Peacekeeper boondogle under Reagan some 20 years later. I just saw a restored a Falcon with a For Sale sign â they wonât let me have a surplus Minuteman warhead, but my wife might let my own a Falcon to contemplate a thing built on the same principles of economy of function.
A woman lawyer, one time neighbor, friend of my Mom, liberal anti-war Democrat, once suggested to me that Mr. McNamara has a lot to answer for to the many women who sent their sons off to never return, especially in light of his mea culpa some years back about admitting to Vietnam being a mistake. Maybe that was the liberal Democrat in Mr. McNamara talking, but it didnât get him any respect from liberal Democrats or anyone else.
Maybe the mistake to which he was confessing was that overwhelming industrial might is not the sure fire path to victory as it was claimed for the American Civil War and for WW-II â in Vietnam we had met a foe who had bested us in the will department under the circumstances in question. Would my momâs friend have admitted that she too was part of the equation of victory vs stalemate vs defeat, and would she and others in the anti-war contingent look the Gold Star moms in the eyes for her influence on how things turned out?
For whatever his failings, I want to remember Robert McNamara as a patriotic American who served his country in two wars, for one of which he receive accolades, one for which he received scorn, but he did what was right in protecting America to the best of his considerable intellectual abilities, and for that I honor him.