The Fog of War:

McNamara was portrayed as a caring, ethical,and deeply emotional man who loved his family, presidents, and nation. I find myself enjoying the material shown this week to be my favorites of the semester. I am glad I watched this film before the screening you will be having this evening because it provides background and insight into Johnson from a man who knew and cared for him personally, even if they often disagreed. Unlike the previous Hollywood films or other antiwar propaganda, this documentary portrays our leaders as men thrown into an unparalleled situation that had to make swift and decisive decisions or risk full scale war and destruction within our own nation.

McNamara contrasts radically with the man we saw struggling to answer Peter Davis' questions in Hearts and Minds. He presents himself as one knowledgeable in every aspect of not only the Vietnam Conflict but those of past wars as well. He reflects on the decisions he made. We see the poor man for what he really was, a good individual filled with guilt for participating in a war that killed so many but entrenched in sorrow for being so wrongly accused his entire life as the deepest proponent for the war. He also is seen to still deeply grieve over the death of Kennedy all these years later. This portrays him as a man of deep feeling and loyalty.

I enjoyed the structure of the film in that everything was, obviously, conveyed through flashback but the way it would transition from WWII into Vietnam and ultimately into a peace summit in 1995 allowed for a comparison and contrast between the various periods that would not have otherwise been possible. The rousing musical score is incessant and kept me on edge throughout the film. It was nerve racking music, but I believe the intent was for you to be anything but comfortable while viewing this film. In essence, it conveyed McNamara's own edginess on the topic, even though he was open to discussing it the difficulty in doing so was evident on his face throughout. I also enjoyed learning about the devastation we brought upon Japan during WWII. I never had any idea that we brought such chaos to such a little country. The fact that they did not surrender, even after so many dead, until after the atomic bombings demonstrates the absolute hatred the people or just their leaders must have shared for us. In all, I feel Japan is ignored far to often in WWII discussions and Germans are perceived by many young to have been the sole adversary. This was a welcome addition to my mind in a topic I was unfamiliar with.

We forget the mindset of these people. We have become desensitized as to the destruction a nuclear weapon may bring about. In that time, however, the world was in panic. They understood with the press of a button society could end for good. Most of America would have supported war in an instant if it could have prevented atomic holocaust.

Overall, I never knew McNamara had been so influential in our history. He trained the best men at Harvard for WWII, saved the Ford Motor Company, and was chiefly responsible for many of the military decisions carried out during Vietnam. What a remarkable and courageous individual!