I want to say, and this is very important: at the end we lucked out. It was luck that prevented nuclear war. We came that close to nuclear war at the end. Rational individuals: Kennedy was rational; Khrushchev was rational; Castro was rational. Rational individuals came that close to total destruction of their societies. And that danger exists today.
Robert McNamaraIf we'd lost the war, we'd all have been prosecuted as war criminals. And I think he's right. He, and I'd say I, were behaving as war criminals.
Robert McNamaraNeither conscience nor sanity itself suggests that the United States is, should or could be the global gendarme.
Robert McNamaraTo this day we seem to act in the world as though we know what's right for everybody.
Robert McNamara