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I have no doubt that LBJ respected McNamara and that the latter felt a deep sense of loyalty to the president. But in the fall of 1967 McNamara was in pretty bad shape emotionally (he says far less than the press indicated) and he proposed to LBJ that he halt the bombing and look to include the NLF in a coalition government. He also badly wanted Robert Kennedy to be the party's nominee in 1968 (but of course did not say that to LBJ). LBJ was angry at McNamara for his proposal, and the Defense Secretary was offered the World Bank job at the same time (Nov. 29, 1967, was the date, I think). He said he never knew whether he was fired or resigned, but he did not take up his new duties for another four months or so. Why did he not leave the government sooner? Is it just "loyalty" that kept him tied to a man and his policy that McNamara believed was not going to achieve anything but was frightfully destructive? I have my doubts; he clearly waited until the time was opportune to leave. He was not going to have his departure be noticed and raise a fuss. And he did not, as Professor Welch says, use his "soft power" sooner and better. I find it hard to believe fear of retribution was not a consideration, and perhaps more than we know. Arnold Offner Lafayette College (Emeritus)
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