Chapters 13-14 Summary and Analysis

McNamara was prepared when he took over Defense. He had studied and identified the problems at the Pentagon. He recruited people from academia and other places to serve under him. By this time it was known that there was no missile gap. In terms of the arms race, he learned that in order to argue against nuclear weapons, he had to make good arguments for conventional weapons. The United States had to have some arms strength. He was trying to change U.S. thinking on nuclear policy. Since the split between Russia and China, the communist threat was not as great because there was no united communist entity.

"Yet even his enemies added to his reputation; they were the right enemies, the generals, the conservatives on the Hill. And if there were doubts about his sensitivity on some political...