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Robert McNamara’s Report to NATO in December 1963

by David Coleman

On December 17, 1963, shortly after President Kennedy’s assassination, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara gave NATO ministers a top secret briefing on the state of U.S. nuclear weapons and policy and reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to NATO under the new president.

Filed Under: Documents Tagged With: NATO, nuclear history, Robert McNamara

Robert McNamara’s Press Conference on Cuban Missile Crisis

by David Coleman

Silent footage of a press briefing by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara regarding the Soviet buildup in Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Filed Under: Footage Tagged With: Cuban Missile Crisis, military, Robert McNamara

Robert McNamara and General Maxwell Taylor in the National Military Command Center

by David Coleman

Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Maxwell Taylor pose for cameras in a conference room in the National Military Command Center in the Pentagon.

Filed Under: Footage Tagged With: Joint Chiefs of Staff, Maxwell Taylor, military, Pentagon, Robert McNamara

Robert McNamara’s Special Briefing on Cuba

by David Coleman

Faced with mounting Congressional criticism of the Kennedy’s administration’s transparency on the Soviet buildup in Cuba, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and John Hughes of the Defense Intelligence Agency laid out in unprecedented detail for television cameras and the reporters the intelligence information that gave the administration the confidence to say that no long-range nuclear missiles remained in Cuba.

Filed Under: Footage Tagged With: Cuban Missile Crisis, intelligence, Robert McNamara

Kennedy Selects Robert McNamara as Secretary of Defense

by David Coleman

President-elect John F. Kennedy’s fifth appointment to his new Cabinet filled the Secretary of Defense spot. He chose 44-year-old Robert S. McNamara, who had recently been appointed President of the Ford Motor Company.

Filed Under: Footage Tagged With: Adlai Stevenson, Dean Rusk, JFK, Robert McNamara