Question 1
Robert McNamara was the eight secretary of state for the US administration; he served under two presidents. Robert takes us through what transpired in the USA after world war two. The presence of the nuclear weapons was a threat to the US government in administering all kinds of war that it struck across Europe. The attacks at Tokyo, Japan are some of the main highlights of the application of the nuclear weapons. Plenty of civilians were killed as a result of a misguided war.
McNamara also takes us through the journey of how he moved from being the president of Ford Company to being the Secretary of defense in J. F. Kennedy administration despite his lack of qualifications. Robert monitored, and stage managed all the attacks at Vietnam, these attacks intensified to an extent whereby the Americans were supposed to withdraw out of Vietnam. The President administration was opposed to the withdrawal; this opposition led to the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963. President Johnson took over the US administration in 1964; he then intensified the attacks that were taking place in Vietnam. He even recruited thousands and thousands more soldiers to backup the attack team in Vietnam. The American administration was under pressure to use nuclear weapons in order to challenge tension that was arising in Vietnam. At long last, they overcame the situation at Vietnam, and they returned back to normalcy.
Robert McNamara later became the president of the World Bank from 1968 to 1981. He also participated in societal developments that ensured that poverty is eradicated, economic development and ensured that there is a stable health condition across the globe.
Throughout his serviceman ship as the secretary of defense, the following are some of the critical lessons that he learnt throughout the journey; empathize with your enemy, rationality will not save us, there’s something beyond one’s self, maximize efficiency and proportionality should be a guideline in war. Similarly, get the data, belief and seeing are both often wrong, be prepared to reexamine your reasoning, and in order to do good, you may have to engage in evil, were some of the critical lessons that he learnt.
Question 2
The filmmakers of this documentary were interested in trying to find out the humanity during this war. The rampant air strikes and bombing at Vietnam that took place under Robert as the secretary of defense were unprecedented. Therefore, this was the main aspect that the filmmakers sought to analyze and bring into book the extent of war during this administration. The analytical tools that are applied in this documentary, for example, the video clips showing the bombings and loss of lives, are meant to explore ineptly the extent of inhuman aspect.
Question 3
Robert lessons concerning rationality (rationality will not save us) is justified in its application in this documentary. In a war zone between two countries, legitimacy and professionalism are not applicable. Confrontation and response to a given situation is essential in handling factors related to war. The random and untimely attack of Tokyo can be attributed to rationality; the soldiers believed that Tokyo was acting as a threat to their mission in Europe. Therefore, through random reasoning without any attempt to reason appropriately led to the attacks in Tokyo which rendered many civilians dead.
